La formazione di Giovanni Battista Antonelli: note storiche e contesto sociale prima del suo arrivo in Spagna

Abstract

[EN] Giovanni Battista Antonelli before his arrival in Spain in 1559, being in his thirties, had spent the first part of his life in his native country, Italy. The present research concentrates on this territory and those years: a context of wars, captains, architects, theorists and treatises, many known and less known personalities who influenced Antonelli military engineering education. More detailed information appear in Italian archives about Giovan Francesco Guidi di Bagno and Antonelli: the first, Count of Montebello, was an important mercenary captain for the more powerful personalities, while the second was, at that time, at his service. Fiduciary and family relationships interlinked around the Count Guidi and others eminent personalities such as Giovanni Battista Belluzzi called “Sanmarino”, Cosimo I Medici up to Juan Manrique de Lara and Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna, to mention the main ones. This investigation tries to shed light on the first part of Antonelli learning, as he took part to the War between Florence and Siena and in the Naples Kingdom. He subsequently left for Flanders with the Spanish army and reaching eventually Spain. During Felipe II Reign, after having written the Epitomi, he started the well known career of Antonelli family as military engineers. It was especially Battista, the younger brother, one of the main representatives in the history of military engineering, especially between the 16th and 17th centuries.