ABSTRACT
Alberto Radicati's education can only be a matter of conjecture. He certainly knew Latin, although many quotes from classical works in his writings are clearly second-hand' and taken, in particular, from Machiavelli, Bayle and Toland. Radicati borrowed from Machiavelli's Florentine Histories and Guicciardini's History of Italy in his attack on the temporal power of the Church and on the Catholic clergy's strong influence in Italian political affairs. Radicati admired the communion of goods practiced by the early Christians but, on the other hand, he saw already in the primitive Church the roots of doctrinal contrasts which have caused an infinite number of Quarrels and Schisms to spring up in the Christian Common-wealth. In examining Radicati's work, Berman has taken into account his two most important texts, namely Twelve Discourses and the Philosophical Dissertation, and has concluded: Radicati's theological position may be described as pantheistic materialism.
