Cyriac Pizzecolli, also called “of Ancona” (Ancona, Italy, 1391-ab. 1450), is traditionally considered the founder of the antiquarian science and archaeology. His biographers and specialists underlined, starting from Francesco Scalamonti, who wrote when he was living, as an eccentricity he was born in a trading town such as Ancona and he wasn’t trained in humanities as a merchant himself. This book tries to explain it had been actually his very “eye of merchant” and diplomat, even of spy, to make the difference. Cyriac, in fact, made two things: (1) he contributed spreading the interest for collecting antiquities among the Western ruling classes producing a “commoditization” of still not considered trading and commercial goods (later become actually appreciated from an economic point of view too), and (2) employed those he found, bought or copied in Greece as gifts for convincing politicians, aristocrats and rich merchants helping the Byzantine empire attacked by the Turks. In this second mission, Cyriac followed in fact the traditional habit of Byzantine diplomacy to give christian relics as gifts, substituting actually them with ancient (pagan) relics. Merchant, antiquarian and diplomat, Cyriac builds in the Fifteenth century, on this Byzantine diplomatic tradition, a new way of interpreting the classical heritage, transforming it in the Western tradition, radicating a still not discovered interest for collecting antiquities among Western ruling classes. Substituting the holy Christian relics with the ancient, pagan ones, Cyriac represented himself as who wanted “to wake the deads”. His aim was however improving the appeal of the Byzantine empire in the Western Christian world, transforming it in the most important container of the documents of the ancient classical heritage. European humanism and collecting antiquities had finally a deep political and conjunctural origin in the “clash of civilization” the geopolitical setting of the Balkans and the Adriatic region showed in that time. Thanks to his formidable work made of public relations, letters, and antiquarian gifts, Cyriac modified in about a generation Western idea of the Byzantine world, which in turn was becoming a Greek state modifying its original identity of a Roman empire. Both changes were a way of “branding” the Byzantine world in a very different shape than before: ancient classical heritage became then the “cultural capital” of Western civilization to defend, creating the contingent, political and military necessity to avoid the fall of Constantinople under the Turks. Cyriac’s life represents the models of the cultures developed in between, in the border territories, among different worlds, able crossing in a not authoritarian way, sometimes opportunistic, the clash of civilization of their time. It clearly represents the liquid, cultural models the late medieval state towns, such as Venice, Ragusa and Ancona, employed as tools of resistance in managing the conflictual and unstable Fifteenth-century Adriatic geopolitical situation. An example perhaps useful to study to-day, in the contemporary crisis of the state nation, among other similar ideological and religious conflicts.
Due personaggi raccontano in questo libro, a distanza di dieci secoli l’uno dall’altro, due storie adriatiche, legate all’identità del confine, dei luoghi mediatori di conflitti, di incontri e scontri tra culture. La storia di Giuda Ciriaco, santo protettore di Ancona, l’ebreo scopritore della croce di Cristo divenuto vescovo cristiano, apre una finestra sui rapporti tra cristiani ed ebrei a Gerusalemme nel V secolo, nel momento in cui si originano una nuova identità cristiana e, insieme ad essa, paure, ansie e conflitti. Trasferita ad Ancona da Gerusalemme nell’ambito di rapporti politico-diplomatici della città con gli imperi d’Oriente e d’Occidente (una delle prime testimonianze dell’impiego politico delle reliquie), la storia del santo ebreo viene ricodificata da nuovi significati e diverse sensibilità culturali. Dal culto delle reliquie utilizzate come dono diplomatico dall’impero bizantino muove anche la storia di Ciriaco Pizzecolli, mercante e antiquario di Ancona, per costruire, nella prima metà del XV secolo, l’idea della tradizione classica come heritage, patrimonio della civiltà occidentale, attraverso l’invenzione del collezionismo delle antichità. Ciriaco sostituisce le sacre reliquie cristiane con le reliquiae antiquitatis, ma con la stessa funzione: “resuscitare i morti” come definiva la sua missione. Ma il suo progetto, condiviso con gli imperatori bizantini e con il cardinale Bessarione, è sopratutto politico: creare una nuova immagine, appetibile per l’Occidente, all’impero d’Oriente per presentarlo come erede e custode della civiltà occidentale, al fine di sostenere la sua pressante richiesta di aiuto economico e militare contro l’avanzata turca. Grazie al lavoro capillare e infaticabile di relazioni, contatti e viaggi nell’Adriatico, nell’Egeo e nei Balcani, Ciriaco radicò in meno di trent’anni, tra le classi dirigenti europee, ciò che diventerà il modello della educazione occidentale, il suo “capitale culturale”, creando le condizioni per la nascita dell’Umanesimo e del Rinascimento italiani. Mercante, diplomatico, cortigiano, antiquario, spia, Ciriaco d’Ancona rappresenta, in maniera parallela alla storia di Giuda, un tipo di cultura nata e sviluppatasi in between, capace di attraversare in forma non autoritaria, imprevedibile e a volte opportunistica, il conflitto di civiltà del suo tempo. Essa rappresenta i modelli culturali “liquidi” utilizzati come serbatoi di resistenza dalle città stato tardomedievali come Venezia, Genova, Ancona e Ragusa alle prese con gli equilibri perennemente instabili e conflittuali della regione adriatica, sui quali vale la pena di ragionare oggi, alla dissoluzione dello stato nazione contemporaneo, nel mezzo di nuovi blocchi ideologici e religiosi.
Il vescovo e l’antiquario. Giuda Ciriaco, Ciriaco Pizzecolli e le origini dell’identità adriatica anconitana
MANGANI G
2016
Abstract
Cyriac Pizzecolli, also called “of Ancona” (Ancona, Italy, 1391-ab. 1450), is traditionally considered the founder of the antiquarian science and archaeology. His biographers and specialists underlined, starting from Francesco Scalamonti, who wrote when he was living, as an eccentricity he was born in a trading town such as Ancona and he wasn’t trained in humanities as a merchant himself. This book tries to explain it had been actually his very “eye of merchant” and diplomat, even of spy, to make the difference. Cyriac, in fact, made two things: (1) he contributed spreading the interest for collecting antiquities among the Western ruling classes producing a “commoditization” of still not considered trading and commercial goods (later become actually appreciated from an economic point of view too), and (2) employed those he found, bought or copied in Greece as gifts for convincing politicians, aristocrats and rich merchants helping the Byzantine empire attacked by the Turks. In this second mission, Cyriac followed in fact the traditional habit of Byzantine diplomacy to give christian relics as gifts, substituting actually them with ancient (pagan) relics. Merchant, antiquarian and diplomat, Cyriac builds in the Fifteenth century, on this Byzantine diplomatic tradition, a new way of interpreting the classical heritage, transforming it in the Western tradition, radicating a still not discovered interest for collecting antiquities among Western ruling classes. Substituting the holy Christian relics with the ancient, pagan ones, Cyriac represented himself as who wanted “to wake the deads”. His aim was however improving the appeal of the Byzantine empire in the Western Christian world, transforming it in the most important container of the documents of the ancient classical heritage. European humanism and collecting antiquities had finally a deep political and conjunctural origin in the “clash of civilization” the geopolitical setting of the Balkans and the Adriatic region showed in that time. Thanks to his formidable work made of public relations, letters, and antiquarian gifts, Cyriac modified in about a generation Western idea of the Byzantine world, which in turn was becoming a Greek state modifying its original identity of a Roman empire. Both changes were a way of “branding” the Byzantine world in a very different shape than before: ancient classical heritage became then the “cultural capital” of Western civilization to defend, creating the contingent, political and military necessity to avoid the fall of Constantinople under the Turks. Cyriac’s life represents the models of the cultures developed in between, in the border territories, among different worlds, able crossing in a not authoritarian way, sometimes opportunistic, the clash of civilization of their time. It clearly represents the liquid, cultural models the late medieval state towns, such as Venice, Ragusa and Ancona, employed as tools of resistance in managing the conflictual and unstable Fifteenth-century Adriatic geopolitical situation. An example perhaps useful to study to-day, in the contemporary crisis of the state nation, among other similar ideological and religious conflicts.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
