Intellectual Life
The views of Charles de Brosses (1740) can be considered paradigmatic of the admiration for the city’s intellectual life, which was held in great respect by travelers. The coordinates remain the same, although they are not always as exhaustive and informed as those of the French traveler: «literature, philosophy, mathematics and the arts are still held in great esteem in this city. I found it full of lettered people, among both the nobility and professional scholars. Not only are they perfectly acquainted with the condition of literature in their own country, but also seemed to be well informed about that of France and England. They think most highly of those whose research has as its aim some benefit for the public, which may be of advantage to the whole nation; […] it has to be acknowledged that the cultivation of letters comes more easily to the Florentines than to any other population in Italy; they are well off and have free time, having neither military forces nor intrigues nor affairs of state. Thus all their occupations are reduced to commerce and study; and for this last, the inhabitants of Florence cannot help but be affected by all the amenities that have been assembled for them over the course of several centuries and principally in the form of monuments of antiquity, libraries and manuscripts».