La biblioteca salvata. Classici greci e latini tra i libri di Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi

This volume reconstructs the rediscovery of the private library of Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi (Altamura, 1764 – Naples, 1852), a leading figure in southern Italian intellectual culture between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Re-emerging in 2014 within his family residences in Altamura and Naples, the collection comprises approximately two thousand volumes of considerable value and has been brought back to scholarly attention through the dedication of his descendants. The library reflects the remarkable breadth of Cagnazzi’s intellectual interests, ranging from the natural sciences to philosophy, from law to economics, and from modern to classical literature. This latter area is the focus of a descriptive inventory curated by Paola Monno and Annalisa Divincenzo, which catalogues the Greek and Latin authors preserved in the collection, including incunabula, rare editions, and other valuable works. This section is followed by a study by Nunzio Bianchi on the role of the classics in Cagnazzi’s intellectual formation and scholarly production. The volume concludes with appendices and an iconographic apparatus highlighting particularly significant bibliographical and documentary materials (incunabula, ex libris, ownership marks, and unpublished texts), thus offering both a valuable record and a unique opportunity for rediscovery.