IL DE SECRETIS LIBER PRIMUS DI GIROLAMO CARDANO

The main aim of my Ph. D dissertation is the edition of the De secretis liber primus (Basilea 1562) of Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576). The thesis contains an introduction that relates the work of Cardano to natural philosophy of the Renaissance, the transcription of the editio princeps and the translation in Italian accompanied by a set of historical and philological notes. In the introduction I analyze the historical background of the pubblication of the De secretis and I compare Cardano's work with Renaissance books of secrets in particular with Conrad Gessner's Thesaurus Euonymi Philiatri de remediis secretis (Zurich 1552). The introduction examines the Cardanian method for the search of secrets and the relationship with his metaphysics and with his idea of lucrum.