Chapter Il lavoro pratico arriva alla letteratura

Abstract

The Sixteenth century gradually overcame the inadequate consideration previously accorded to pratical work. Cornelius Agrippa, De incertitudine scientiarum (1529) treated many menial jobs next to the noble ones, and he had a negative attitude towards the workers who tranformed necessary trades into fake disciplines. The “professors of secrets” dispelled such negativity by publishing the recipes of their products. Vannoccio Biringucci’s Pirotecnia (1540) showed that scientific kowledge goes into the extraction and fusion of metals. Leonardo Fioravanti in his Specchio di tutte le scienze (1563) described humble and noble works. He opened the door to a flood of publications on all sorts of practical works from silk production, to distillation, dancing and tailoring. Finally the work had become a worthy subject for literature.