Basilio Bessarione: Lo spirito greco e l’occidente (review)

Perhaps because of his eccentricity, the Hellenizing, likely pagan Platonist Gemistus Pletho (c. 1355–1452) has received plenty of attention from scholars, including works by François Masai, Christopher Montague Woodhouse, and Brigitte Tambrun-Krasker. But it is a different situation for Gemistus’s most celebrated and influential disciple: Cardinal Basilio Bessarion (c. 1402–72), who, although a strong defender of the Greek tradition and Platonic philosophy, maintained his loyalty to the Catholic Church. For many years, the only real monograph about Bessarion was the classic study Kardinal Bessarion als Theologe, Humanist und Staatsmann by Ludwig Mohler (Paderborn, 1927); Mohler also issued an edition of the cardinal’s masterpiece, In calumniatorem Platonis, and a volume of other texts by Bessarion and his familiares. Lotte Labowski, Concetta Bianca, James Hankins, John Monfasani, and Brunello Lotti later wrote other important articles, followed by recent monographs by Marian Cizewski and Héctor Delbosco.

Giuseppe L. Coluccia’s book is not only the first Italian monograph devoted to a key protagonist in Renaissance cultural history but also offers a remarkably complete and updated bibliography (pp. 375–424) on the life, works, and intellectual circle of the cardinal—an important instrument for future work. Coluccia—who has written a biography of Nicholas V—is not involved in the academic milieu, so his monograph is aimed at introducing Bessarion to a wider public. Written chronologically, the book describes the life of the cardinal as a sort of Bildungsroman. This romantic tone is probably responsible for the principal flaw of Coluccia’s work: He admires Bessarion too much to recognize the ambiguities of the cardinal’s life and ideas. The political meaning of In calumniatorem Platonis, composed not only to defend Plato’s reputation but also to protect Bessarion’s position within the Roman Curia, is largely neglected. The conspiracy against Pope Paul II by the Accademia Romana, which involved many of Bessarion’s familiares, is summarized in just a few pages. In one of a series of factual errors, Coluccia mistakenly describes Callimaco Esperiente and Filippo Buonaccorsi as two different individuals (p. 231). Although he largely relies on secondary literature, almost exclusively in Italian, Coluccia nevertheless unearths some unusual aspects of Bessarion’s life: developing some observations by Giovanni Pugliese Caratelli, he offers an interesting chapter on the cardinal’s pastoral activity in southern Italy. Coluccia is perhaps too optimistic when he states that modern translations of Bessarion’s works might bring about peace in the Middle East (p. 277).

As a whole, the book is not always precise, and there are some sections that read more like notes rather than refined paragraphs. Yet, despite the ingenuousness of style and content, Coluccia’s book contains a wealth of references that is useful for those who wish to learn about Bessarion and his world.