Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei

Scipione Maffei (Verona, 1675-1755) was an Italian scholar, playwright and thinker born in the Republic of Venice. He wrote in Italian, and his interests ranged across history, philology, theatre and science, which makes him a characteristic figure of the Italian Catholic Enlightenment.

From a noble Veronese family, he was educated by the Jesuits in Parma and later in Rome. As a young man he served as an officer in the Bavarian army and took part in the Battle of Schellenberg in 1704. Back in Italy he turned to writing: he gave new life to Italian theatre with his tragedy Merope, whose restrained style was admired for decades, and he pursued research into the antiquities of Verona, where he helped bring to light old manuscripts in the cathedral library.

His travels across Europe, including a long stay in Paris, exposed him to other forms of government. From this came the Consiglio politico of 1736, a critical treatise on the Venetian system that was never formally presented and was published posthumously in 1797. Maffei also argued for scientific reasoning against superstition and reflected on usury and magic. His legacy lives on above all in the founding of the lapidary museum in Verona and in his contribution to palaeography and philology.