{"id":1347,"date":"2026-06-23T09:10:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/?page_id=1347"},"modified":"2026-08-19T07:47:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:47:41","slug":"casa-natale-di-antonio-minasi","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/casa-natale-di-antonio-minasi\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonio Minasi's birthplace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1331.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p class=\"translation-block\">Antonio Minasi, philosopher and naturalist, was born in Scilla on 20 May 1736 to Rocco and Nicolina Dieni. He\nbelonged to the Italian Enlightenment movement of the eighteenth century, which succeeded in moderating the\nharsh anti-historicism and extreme individualism of the French Enlightenment thanks to the beneficial influence\nof the historicism of G. B. Vico. Supported by his parents, he studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew literature,\ndemonstrating an excellent aptitude for learning, especially in both sacred and secular sciences.\nHaving completed his studies, he moved to Naples, where he attended the Course in Philosophical Sciences of\nAbbot Genovesi with remarkable success.\nIt was precisely during this period that Antonio Minasi felt drawn to religious life and donned the Dominican\nhabit, entering the Convent of San Domenico in Soriano in order to devote himself to sacred studies.\nIn Naples, in 1762, he graduated in Theology and continued to study both Eastern languages and natural\nsciences.\nAt Genovesi\u2019s school, Minasi acquired the conviction that literature and science have no value in themselves,\nbut only in relation to the good they can bring to mankind.\nIndeed, in every scientific study he undertook in order to uncover hidden truth \u2014 as he himself said, \u201csub peplo\nnaturae\u201d \u2014 there was never a lack of considerations inspired by sound pragmatism, which led the brilliant\nnaturalist to make incessant discoveries.\nHe, who had specialized in the study of philosophy and natural sciences, who had graduated in Theology and\nembraced religious life by entering the Dominican Order, did not disdain humble work and the invention of\nsimple yet useful methods for agriculture.\nAmong these were a method to counter the action of moths \u2014 \u201cmothers of those worms that bring famine to\nolive oil\u201d \u2014 and another to make every grain seed fertile by immersing it in a bath of rainwater in which nitre\nhad been dissolved.\nMinasi also undertook interesting botanical experiments on the fibres of Linnaeus\u2019 Agave, from which he succeeded\nin producing a highly valuable papyrus, suitable even for oil painting. This product was presented to all\nthe academies of Europe and received widespread praise.\nHe is credited with the purification of the fibres of the same Agave plant, from which he produced ropes, cloth\nand lace.\nHe also devised a simple and innovative method for improving paper production, obtaining sheets that were\nwhiter, better glued and drier.\nHis Calabria, and especially his native town, were very dear to him, so much so that he gladly lived first in the\nConvent of San Domenico in Soriano and later in that of Reggio. Here he had the opportunity to admire and\nexamine the optical phenomenon of the Fata Morgana, which he later discussed in one of his dissertations.\nThe explanation of this purely natural, and by no means supernatural, phenomenon proved useful to his fellow\nfriars in converting the population of Quito, in Central America, where a similar phenomenon occurred and was\nconsidered by the local people to be the work of their idol.\nIn 1771 Minasi undertook an in-depth study of the zoology and phytology of the Taranto district, enriching\nTommaso d\u2019Aquino\u2019s Deliciae Tarantinae, published in Naples, with learned notes.\nHis extraordinary reflections highlighted both his poetic spirit and his profound scientific knowledge, so much\nso that they were later translated into Italian by Giosu\u00e8 Carducci.\nAmong Minasi\u2019s dissertations, in addition to the one on the nature of coral, was a study on the behaviour of the\nhermit crab, which he examined so carefully that he corrected errors made by Pliny; this work was printed by\nhis cousin Rocco Bova in 1775.\nHis reputation as a philosopher-naturalist, recognized abroad as well, facilitated his first important appointment\nand his meeting with Gian Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli (Pope Clement XIV), who in 1773 appointed him\nProfessor of Practical Botany at the Sapienza University of Rome, succeeding Abbot Maratti.\nIn the same year he was also entrusted with the task of visiting the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, at the expense\nof the Apostolic Chamber, in order to collect fossils, minerals and volcanic materials destined for the newly\nestablished Pio-Clementino Museum, within the Vatican Museums.\nFor this mission he was accompanied by the renowned Dutch draftsman Willem Fortuyn, as well as Bernardino\nRulli, whose task was to depict the most beautiful views of the Kingdom.\nThe views were engraved on copper by another native of Scilla, Bova, and accompanied by learned and comprehensive\ncaptions written by Minasi himself; they were published in the Novelle Letterarie of Florence and\nreceived deserved praise, especially those depicting the different sides of the town of Scilla and the Strait of\nMessina.\nAfter the disastrous earthquake of 1783, Minasi was sent to Calabria by King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon together\nwith other scientists, naturalists and archaeologists, including his cousin Rocco Bova, in order to examine the\nphenomena produced by the terrible earthquake. Having returned to Naples, he presented the entire study to\nthe Sovereign.\nHighly esteemed by learned men, Popes and Sovereigns \u2014 especially by Empress Catherine II of Russia \u2014 he\nestablished ties with each of them, offering the fruits of his discoveries: to the Pope an elegant papyrus bearing\na Latin inscription, to Catherine II a pair of gloves woven from spider silk and two salt cellars made of obsidian\nstone. Generous and just, and Christianly attentive to human dignity, he became the driving force behind the\nlong struggles his fellow citizens undertook against the excessive demands of their feudal lord.\nThe events unleashed by the French Revolution brought profound upheavals to the Kingdom: the establishment\nof the Parthenopean Republic, the return of the Bourbons and the execution of numerous intellectuals; followed\nby the loss of the State by its legitimate sovereigns and the transfer of power first to Joseph Bonaparte\nand then to Joachim Murat.\nMinasi, with his culture and mentality, representative of one of the last champions of a world that was about\nto disappear, could not accept such upheavals.\nHe appears to have gone into exile in Malta, where he spent the final years of his life in a convent of his Order.\nThus the man who had skillfully and with great expertise sought in the natural world the means to improve the\nsocio-economic conditions of his fellow countrymen as well, died far from his earthly homeland on 25 September\n1806.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Giuseppe Ribuffo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1331.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div ><a class=\"fusion-button button-flat fusion-button-default-size button-custom fusion-button-default button-1 fusion-button-default-span\" style=\"--button_accent_color:#f20800;--button_border_color:#2038b2;--button_accent_hover_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_border_hover_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_top_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_bottom_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_top_color_hover:var(--awb-color4);--button_gradient_bottom_color_hover:var(--awb-color4);--button_text_transform:none;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/chiesa-del-carmine\/\"><i class=\"fa-angle-double-right fas awb-button__icon awb-button__icon--default button-icon-left\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><span class=\"fusion-button-text awb-button__text awb-button__text--default\">Next page: 68. Church of Carmine (Sant\u2019Aloi)<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1872,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1347","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Casa natale di Antonio Minasi - Discover Scilla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/casa-natale-di-antonio-minasi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Casa natale di Antonio Minasi - Discover Scilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/casa-natale-di-antonio-minasi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Discover Scilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-19T07:47:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/67-Pietro-Paolo-Rubens-1636-1024x793.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"793\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/casa-natale-di-antonio-minasi\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/casa-natale-di-antonio-minasi\\\/\",\"name\":\"Casa natale di Antonio Minasi - 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