Following the successful experience of the exhibition Sotto il Torchio (2019), the collaboration between the University of Padua and the Municipality of Padua – Museo Bottacin is renewed and expanded, extending to the Episcopal Seminary, with an exhibition initiative dedicated to one of the most significant aspects of Venetian cultural life, and more specifically that of Padua, from the humanistic revival to the present day. The rediscovery of classical antiquity was primarily conveyed through the exchange, understanding, and study of ancient coinage, particularly Roman imperial coins, and Padua played a central role in this process, channeling these influences into art and culture more broadly. Thanks to the influence exerted in the Euganean capital first by Francesco Petrarca and later by Pietro Bembo, the study of the ancient world through the lens of coins contributed to the formation of figures such as Francesco Squarcione and Andrea Mantegna. These experiences later expanded into intense collecting activities and knowledge exchange, often centered around the University of Padua, whose faculty—especially among jurists and physicians—led Paduan numismatic interests onto an international stage, for example through the French physician and numismatist Charles Patin. In a subsequent phase, between the 18th and 19th centuries, this led to the establishment of public institutions of numismatic interest that remain vital today, with Museo Bottacin playing a primary cultural and scientific role; not to be forgotten, however, are the Ancient Library of the Episcopal Seminary of Padua and the numerous university institutions such as the Museum of Archaeological and Art Sciences at Liviano and the Center for the History of the University (CSUP). The exhibition presents a rich selection of coins, medals, seals, dies, ancient books, archival documents, prints, and paintings, some entirely unpublished, drawn from the extensive collections of Museo Bottacin, the Episcopal Seminary, and various academic institutions in Padua. It also illustrates, through the paths these objects followed before entering such institutions, the intense and fruitful circulation of knowledge that connected their holders to both the local and European cultural life.

This book is included in DOAB.