Sergio Stiso

Sergio Stiso (* 1458 in Zollino ; † 16th century) was a monk in the Greek rite, humanist, philosopher and theologian. He was also one of the main protagonists of Hellenism , which developed in Terra d'Otranto between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries.

Life

Little is known about its early years. It is believed that he was born in 1458 in the small farmhouse of Zollino, a village that belonged to the ancient province of Terra d'Otranto, where the Gallipoli family settled since the early 15th century.

It is also known that he studied first at the prestigious high school of Nardò , one of the most important schools in the area at the time, and then at the Monastery of San Nicola di Casole near Otranto . During these years he became a profound expert on Greek and ancient literature.

In the monastery he took the path of the priesthood. Monsignor Fabrizio di Capua, Archbishop of Otranto, gave him the chapel of San Salvatore in Zollino around 1520.

Stiso was one of the most important humanists in Salento, but little known even to the historians of humanism. It was only in the last few years that this philosopher was partially rediscovered by studying some correspondence with the Greek scholar Nicola Petreo von Curzola , his student and friend.

Stiso ran a school of copyists in the small Greek town of Salento, which was in close contact with the very famous monastery of San Nicola di Casole near Otranto. Although he wore the cassock, his studies and work did not despise profane literature. He did not limit himself to transcribing works that were widespread in Salento at the time, but tried to acquire numerous texts from foreign libraries unknown in the region.

He had also founded a school where he taught literature and philosophy to the students of the wealthy families of Terra d'Otranto. For this and for his culture he was called "Magister" (master).

The historical significance of the figure is more related to an event of the Turkish invasion of 1480, which destroyed Otranto, than to the extraordinary folk work. The nearby Casole Monastery housed one of the most important libraries in Europe at the time. When the Saracens attacked the city in the famous Battle of Otranto , they also set the library on fire. According to numerous sources, it was the monk from Salento who saved some of the manuscripts and in the following years, between the last decades of the 15th and early 16th centuries, began restoring and copying various texts. This happened in the scriptorium of Zollino, through his students, among whom should be mentioned Aulo Giano Parrasio, Matteo Tafuri of Soleto (later known as philosopher, astrologer and magician) and Marcantonio Zimarra of Galatina (philosopher). Her work was of extraordinary historical significance because it made it possible to convey an important part of the Greek-Otrantian culture of that time to the other protagonists of humanism and then to the present day.

The echo of his work reached the Vatican . He was called to Rome to direct the Vatican library , but now that he was an old man, he declined the invitation in favor of his student Nicolò Maiorano, who became curator in 1532. He lived between 70 and 80 years as the exact date of his death, which occurred before 1538, is unknown.

literature

• A. Cappello: Zollino: arte, società e cultura in un percorso storiografico . Edizioni Del Grifo, Lecce 1999 (Italian).
• Paolo Pellegrino (ed.): Sergio Stiso tra Umanesimo e Rinascimento in Terra d'Otranto . Congedo Editore, Galatina 2012 (Italian).

Web links

• Biography of Francesco G. Giannachi on the website of the Comune of Zollino .
• Publications on Sergio Stiso in the Opac der Regesta Imperii