Enlightenment in the Kingdom of Naples: the legacy of Giuseppe Saverio Poli through archive documents

In the second half of the XVIII century, the enlightenment movement in the Kingdom of Naples was driven by scholars – among the others – as Mario Pagano and Domenico Cirillo, whose work and action, however, did not survive the restoration followed to the revolutionary experience of the Neapolitan Republic, to which those scholars participated. Instead, the Newtonianism effectively entered the Kingdom of Naples mainly through the agency of Giuseppe Saverio Poli, whose “court enlightenment” guaranteed a long-lasting penetration of the basic roots of the scientific thought in several areas of Science. In the present contribution, the interesting legacy of Poli will be analysed through the various documents available in different archives of Naples and, more in general, in Italy. A number of unexpected and intriguing features, related to different interests, emerges, which contributes to better delineate the multifaceted life and work of one of the most influential figures of the Kingdom of Naples.