Prospero Petroni traduttore della grammatica di Port-Royal

Abstract

This article examines a little-known episode in the intellectual activity of the Apulian scholar Prospero Petroni (1716–1783), based on documents relating to his private library. Particular attention is devoted to his linguistic interests and to the grammatical tradition of Port-Royal. The study centres on the Italian translation that Petroni prepared of Claude Lancelot’s Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre facilement la langue grecque, now preserved in manuscript at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana. Although the work was intended for publica­tion in Venice, it was never printed. The article reconstructs the cultural con­text in which this editorial project took shape and discusses the possible rea­sons why it ultimately remained unpublished.