Universa Universis Patavina Libertas: is the famous motto of the University of Padua that is celebrating its 800th Anniversary in 2022, marking it as one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher education in Europe.
No other aspect has characterized the Italian academic institution more deeply and for so long than the fundamental values of Libertas. Starting from its foundation in 1222 – its academic disputes over immortality – the years in which Galileo Galilei was given ample space to hold lectures and conduct research – the revolts held during the Italian Revolution of 1848 – it was Liberty that the men and women sought in Padua eager to pursue freedom and leave behind limitations of the mind, body, or soul.
Libertas has been an ambiguous term used over these eight centuries to indicate the obscure phenomena shared between concepts capable of holding contrary ideals, events, or facts.
Libertas. Tra religione, politica e saperi aims to reconstruct the University’s long history by highlighting it as an educational body, a space, and practices to the conflicts that have marked its long evolution.
Libertas. Tra religione, politica e saperi (available in Italian) by Giulia Albanese, Antonella Barzazi, Luca Beltramini, Paula Findlen, Enrico Francia, Cynthia Klestinec, Margherita Losacco, Adriano Mansi, Hannah Marcus, Andrea Martini, Guglielmo Monetti, Dennj Solera, and Michaela Valente, edited by Andrea Caracausi, Paola Molino and Dennj Solera
Donzelli – Padova University Press, 2022
ISBN 9788855223096
INDEX
Introductions
by Andrea Caracausi, Paola Molino, and Dennj Solera
Part one. Knowledge and Libertas
I. The concept of Libertas in Rome
II. From Libertas in Padua to Libertas in Philosophy
III. Concetto Marchesi and Libertas
Part two. Politics and Institutions
I. Religious minorities at the University
II. New practices, new ways of learning in science, medicine, and anatomy
III. The circulation and censorship of books
Part three. Libertas. Space and Practices
I. Outside the classroom: clubs and academia
II. Libraries in Padua, the twentieth century
III. The Human Rights Centre
Part four. Conflict and Tension
I. Libertas in Padua during the Counter-Reformation
II. The students of 1848
III. From Fascism to Democracy
IV. The Student Protest Movement of 1968