Raccolta dell'Accademia degli Euteleti

The Accademia degli Euteleti in San Miniato is a learned society reconstituted under its present name in 1822, with a collection of archives, prints, graphics and objects connected with the city's cultural history.

Why it matters

The Academy has maintained a scholarly presence in San Miniato for two centuries. Its collection preserves the documentary and artistic record of an institution that brought together interests in history, literature, science, art and agriculture.

What to notice

The holdings include archival documents, old prints and engravings, and twentieth-century graphic works by Pietro Parigi and Dilvo Lotti. A funerary mask traditionally identified as Napoleon Bonaparte's is also associated with the collection. The Buonaparte family had roots in San Miniato, and local accounts associate Napoleon with a childhood visit in 1778 and a later visit in 1796.

Context and history

The Accademia degli Euteleti was reconstituted in December 1822 by San Miniato scholars, including Torello Pierazzi and the poet Pietro Bagnoli, its first perpetual president. Bagnoli chose the name, referring to people of goodwill pursuing a worthy aim, and the academy's emblem is an unbridled horse. Its interests expanded beyond literature to the sciences, arts and agriculture. The Academy has published an annual Bollettino and is based in the historic Palazzo Migliorati.