Unbelief and Inquisition in Early Modern Italy: The Case of Flaminio Fabrizi

Abstract

This essay reflects on the history of the origins of atheism in the late sixteenth century through an analysis of the Inquisition proceedings against Flaminio Fabrizi, which began in Siena in 1587 and ended in Rome in 1591 with the accused being sentenced to death at the stake. This is a very intriguing case because Fabrizi, not a learned man, mixed different forms of heterodoxy and unbelief that surprised and disturbed the judges of the Holy Office. This essay aims to contribute to the history of religious nonconformism in Counter-reformation Italy and in Europe during the so-called “confessional era”.

Keywords

• unbelief
• atheism
• libertinism
• Averroism
• Roman Inquisition
• early modern Siena