Libri leciti, gesti proibiti: “Thomaso Cazola da Como medico et astrologo”
abstract
The article describes the final years in the life of Tommaso Cazola, an empiric physician-astrologer who, in the second half of the 16th century, ran afoul of the Inquisition. None of the 70 or so books in his library are forbidden; yet the fruit of those readings, printed on flyleaves advertising the therapeutic services offered by Tommaso, is a triumph of astrology of the worst sort: another fine mixture of ‘cheese and worms’, in short.One of those sheets has come down to us, and--contrary to what is always assumed in the case of ephemeral prints for everyday use--the sheet turns out to have come from the workshop of a master typographer. If Tommaso had continued his medico-astrological practice without hanging those flyleaves in public, the Inquisition would not have been interested in this man, who, after banishment from Venice, a daring escape and imprisonment, ended his days serenely in the lagoon city.
Keywords: Bibliology • Censorship • Self-censorship • Inquisition • Flyleaves