The Acquaviva family from Atri: Books,culture and feudality

Abstract

Thanks to two recent publications, a little-known aspect of the cultural history of the powerful feudal family, the Acquaviva, has emerged. In a substantial chapter of the first of the two works analyzed, Giulio Sodano describes the Acquaviva’s well-stocked library (2402 books). He also shows how the members of the Acquaviva family, despite living in a small town in Abruzzo, took part in contemporary European cultural life through books. The second work analyzed presents research conducted by Maurizio Torrini, Domenica Falardo and Sebastiano Martelli which further attests to the Acquavivas’ interest in culture and the attention they paid to it. In particular, Martelli sheds light on the extraordinary persona of Cardinal Troiano, someone who in the first decades of the 18th century maintained relations with personalities such as Celestino Galiani, Giambattista Vico, Giacomo Casanova and Raimondo di Sangro.