Julius Caesar Capaccio (15528 July 1634) was a learned

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

of the 17th century. A civic humanist, in 1602 he was appointed secretary of the city of Naples.

Biography

Giulio Cesare Capaccio was born in Campagna d'

Eboli Eboli (Neapolitan language, Ebolitano: ) is a town and ''comune'' of Campania, southern Italy, in the province of Salerno. Eboli, an agricultural centre, is renowned for its olive oil and dairy products, most notably the famous buffalo mozzarel ...

(Salerno) in 1552, of a humble family. As a youngster he became proficient in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

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before attending the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

, where he graduated in law. In 1592 appeared his treatise on

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s ''Delle imprese'', a late but important testimony of

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tradition. By the early 1600s he was deeply involved in local antiquarian studies, especially in the

Phlegraean Fields The Phlegraean Fields (, ; ) is a large volcano, volcanic caldera west of Naples, Italy. The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruption (about 12ka BP) produced just 50 cubic kilometers. It is, however, one of relatively few volcanoes large enough to f ...

. An erudite member of the humanist literary-historian circle in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Naples, he was one of the most methodical local scholars interested in reconstructing Naples's past from antiquity to his day. In 1611 Capaccio became a founding member of the Neapolitan Accademia degli Oziosi (Academy of the Idle). He died in 1634, shortly after the publication of ''Il Forastiero'', a guide to Naples in dialogue form, which is considered his masterpiece. ''Il Forastiero'' is a huge narrative description of the

history of Naples The history of Naples is long and varied, dating to Greek settlements established in the Naples area in the 2nd millennium BC. During the end of the Greek Dark Ages a larger mainland colony – initially known as Parthenope – develop ...

modeled after the conversation between a foreigner and a local sage, imagined as taking place over the course of ten days. His work was part of the historical and geographic genre that became popular in the later sixteenth century. It was, in fact, just the type of book he had helped establish with his earlier guides on the antiquities and natural marvels of the Phlegraean Fields. It was also akin to Eugenio Caracciolo's ''Napoli Sacra'' (1624) in its historical treatment of Naples's sacred sites, martyrs, and saints' cults. Capaccio's detailed descriptions and historical narrative embraced both the pagan and the early Christian period, from which the city's present political institutions and religious traditions were thought to have originated.

Works

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References

Bibliography

* ''This article incorporates text from

Watkins Biographical Dictionary ''Watkins's Biographical Dictionary'' was originally published in 1800, with a second edition in 1825, as ''An Historical Account of the lives, characters and works of the most eminent persons in every age and nation, from the earliest times to th ...

, a publication now in the

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.'' * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Capaccio, Julius 1552 births 1631 deaths Italian male non-fiction writers 17th-century Italian historians 17th-century Italian male writers People from Campagna Italian archaeologists University of Naples Federico II alumni University of Bologna alumni Italian Renaissance humanists 17th-century writers in Latin Italian Renaissance writers People from the Kingdom of Naples