Medicine, Heresy and Freedom of Thought in sixteenth-century Italy: a Network of Dissident Physicians in the Confessional Age

2026-07-22

I am an expert researcher on the religious and medical history of sixteenth-century Italy. Applying for a GF, supervised by professors Findlen - at Stanford - and Barbierato - at the Univr-, I will examine and interpret the link between sixteenth-century heretical thought and the rise of modern science, exploring the local, national and trans-national levels of this connection. NETDIS will use digital humanities tools to reveal the network of Italian physicians who developed non-conformist religious views. By exploring the nature, extent and function of the ties among physicians, NETDIS will inquire into the genesis of freedom of thought - which stands today at the core of European identity - as an embryonic value shared by most physicians in response to the spread of intolerance in the confessional age. This will have a positive insights for several ongoing difficulties facing the EU, such as the revival of religious violence (i.e. terrorism). Working on NETDIS I will learn innovative methodologies; I will gain new perspectives for an international career; I will write my first monograph.

Italy

2026-01-15