ABSTRACT
Eva Del Soldato
Vernacular doctors: philology, medicine, and leisure at the Florentine Academy
Medicine and vernacular traditionally had complicated interactions. Early modern physicians perceived vernacular as a medium to reach a lower-level readership, and consequently almost only books for apothecaries or surgeons were written in volgare. Was the case of the physicians who were members of the Accademia Fiorentina the same, or were they eager to enlarge the potentiality of the vernacular in the medical field? The present article addresses this issue, in an attempt to shed new light on the role played by physicians at the court of Duke Cosimo, and focusing on the little studied personalities of Pompeo della Barba, Pietro Orsilago, and Baccio Baldini.
