Like a supernova, Giordano Bruno burst onto the Renaissance ideosphere, shocking and captivating his peers with the explosive literary ejections of his supermassive intellect. He wandered across Europe, dividing his time between meetings with royalty and seminars amongst literati in cities like Oxford and Paris. Although he was most famous for his system of memory and his works of poetry, Bruno was also a keen theoretician and theologian who propagated his ideas of multiple worlds and alien species.
Bruno, an evangelist of panentheism, believed in the limitless possibilities of reality. He wasn’t the first person to propose the existence of multiple worlds and universes, but his rejection of Catholic dogma and his unapologetic and subversive rhetoric were grievous offences against the ruling establishment. Refusing to recant, Bruno was burned at the stake in the Campo de Fiori in Rome in 1600.
Author and historian Guido del Giudice has made it his life’s work to promote the study and appreciation of Giordano Bruno and Neapolitan art and culture. Giudice has written articles and books on Brunian philosophy and has also appeared in film documentaries. We spoke with him about his current project, The Giordano Bruno Society.
The Custodian: What first attracted you to Giordano Bruno?
Giudo del Giudice: His hunger for knowledge and the fact that he would stop at nothing to pursue wisdom. His Mediterranean character; his impetuousness and indomitability. But I was especially fascinated by the incredible dynamism of this little friar who was exiled and persecuted. He was truly a ‘philosopher on the road’. In a period when travelling was dangerous and uncomfortable, on foot or by mule, he, tracing the course of rivers, made journeys I estimate were ten thousand kilometres in length.
I was convinced that reliving that cultural and environmental atmosphere could help me to understand such an original and versatile thinker. For this reason I decided to visit all the stops made by Bruno in his peregrinations. Each of my books was preceded by research travel.
C: What led to the creation of The Giordano Bruno Society?
G: I always wanted Bruno to get a landmark in the city where he grew up and completed his early studies. He always remembered Naples as a second hometown, after Nola where he was born. The Giordano Bruno Society has been created with the aim to turn the gratitude which Naples owes to Bruno into a daily cultural and social effort driven by values such as tolerance and freedom of speech. We decided to gift the city with a green area, which we subsidised and renovated, calling it the Flowerbed of Free-thought. We hope that it will become a small Campo de’ Fiori, an iconic place which may become the stimulus for reflections and validations of our incredible heritage for schools, institutions, and cultural associations.
C: Bruno’s works are like a labyrinth. Which aspects of his research are you most interested in?
G: In my essays and translations, I focused my attention on the art of memory, particularly on the use of archetypal images, which reveal amazing analogies with the mandala of the Eastern tradition. The analogies concern also the concepts of metempsychosis and cyclicality of vicissitudes, but it is mainly the theory of the opposites which is closer to the idea of yin-yang and links Bruno’s thinking to the Eastern one. These concepts are the pillars of Bruno’s natural magic.
The art of memory is the aspect of his philosophy that most attracts the admirers. I use it normally, applying the techniques taught by Gianni Golfera, a well-known mnemonist who has developed a method based precisely on that of Giordano Bruno. Next May, The Giordano Bruno Society will host a major conference, in which I and Golfera will explain the theoretical and practical aspects of mnemonics.
C: I’ve seen a lot of news about the Society’s ‘freethinker flash mobs’. What other kinds of activities does the society support?
G: The Society intends to recruit the amazing creative energies that our city shows in all the artistic fields, ranging from science to philosophy, from literature to music, and from cinema to theatre, with a keen attention on the younger generations. We have planned a series of events, theatre shows, meetings, documentaries, and videos which will ideally take place in the Flowerbed of Free-thought, starting with the celebrations that every year, on February 17, commemorating Bruno’s death in the Campo de’ Fiori.
Your efforts are needed to fight ignorance. Well done.
Much appreciated Gianmario–and best wishes!
In the 19th century there were groups of Italians in the mining districts of northern Michigan, USA .that belonged to a Giordano Bruno Society. Did it have any connection to your organization?
Hi DJ! The American Giordano Bruno lodges of the 19th century were established as community organisations, like the modern day Knights of Columbus and Sons of Italy. Guido del Giudice’s organisation started in Naples more than a hundred years later. The only connection is Bruno’s namesake.
Please, please, can your society’s website have an english language equivalent. Much appreciating finding this page in English..
may your work flourish everywhere.
A heroic fury stitched to the stars.