Nicolò Serpetro: politics and hermetism in the Spanish Sicily

Abstract

En 1640, the Spanish Inquisition in Sicily held a trial for sorcery, only recently discovered, against Nicolò Serpetro (1606-1664), an eclectic writer of his century. His biographical notes appearing in the trial documents reveal several mysterious episodes of his life and allow a reconstruction of his intellectual personality. Thanks to a new interpretation of his works, Serpetro appears as an outstanding expression of a highly refined hermetic and esoteric culture. He had learned the principles of that culture and spread them in his home island, Sicily, within a lively cultural and political climate, as yet only partially investigated in its manifold expressions.