La natio dalmata a Padova nel Seicento e Marcantonio De Dominis

The Adriatic sea has been the natural sphere of influence of the University of Padua since its opening, back in 1222. In the first centuries of its activity, the University of Padua welcomed among its pupils numerous young students from the Dalmatian region, which constituted the core of the Venetian overseas territory since the year 1000. Students from Dalmatia were particularly conspicuous between the 16th and the 17th centuries, as evidenced by the records kept in the university archives. For many of these scholars Padua was just a stop along the peregrinatio academica; for others, however, the venetian city constituted the starting point of a successful humanistic and/or scientific career. This study reconstructs the history of the natio dalmata within the University of Padua in the 17th century, relying on the documents preserved in the Archivio Antico at Palazzo Bo. Special attention is devoted to the controversial figure of Marcantonio De Dominis, a Dalmatian prelate who obtained a doctorate in theology in Padua in July 1600.