Students at home: young scholars among Pinelli’s circle in 16th-century Padua

Padua is among the most important poles for intellectual circulation in the late Renaissance. Here, students found the most radical university of the time, but also a cultural circle of the highest order, the one run by Gian Vincenzo Pinelli between 1558 and 1601. This chapter aims to investigate the student presence in Pinelli’s house. Many students were educated in that exceptional environment, consulting avvisi, ancient works, university and private lectures, genealogies, travel accounts, and much more. The reasons that attracted those young scholars to the circle, what kind of resources they had at their disposal, the people they dealt with, and the relationships they established with the patron and his friends are analyzed. It was a fundamental circle for many students, such as Andreas Dudith, Thomas Seget, or Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, intellectuals who in turn continued to spread knowledge in their cultural and national contexts.