1only his own parishioners, but vacationers from the neighboring countryside as
well came willingly to hear his Sunday lectures on the Gospels.... Both the
clergy and the population of the town of Bagno a Ripoli, among whom he lived
for so long and who could therefore judge his great virtues at close hand,
flocked in great numbers to accompany him to his grave and a colleague, Prior
Cini,... praised his knowledge, virtue and modesty. Two musical societies
rendered the funeral procession more solemn.” And the long and steep walk up
to the cemetery which dominates the river from the other flank of the valley
must have reminded that little crowd, all village and country folk, of his
countless methodical hikes over the same splendid hills.
well came willingly to hear his Sunday lectures on the Gospels.... Both the
clergy and the population of the town of Bagno a Ripoli, among whom he lived
for so long and who could therefore judge his great virtues at close hand,
flocked in great numbers to accompany him to his grave and a colleague, Prior
Cini,... praised his knowledge, virtue and modesty. Two musical societies
rendered the funeral procession more solemn.” And the long and steep walk up
to the cemetery which dominates the river from the other flank of the valley
must have reminded that little crowd, all village and country folk, of his
countless methodical hikes over the same splendid hills.
8. ODYSSEY OF THE MANUSCRIPTS
In his will which he had drawn up just three months earlier, besides giving
instructions for his funeral—significant for the simplicity and the poetry that
inspires them—he left his books and manuscripts to his older brother, Giuseppe,
with the obligation to transmit them to his eldest son, Egisto, who was in turn
to leave them to his firstborn and so on, as has been done. Egisto Caverni, the
favorite nephew with whom his uncle often met in Florence and who had
taken up the trade of carpenter, went to get them at the parsonage of San
Bartolomeo in Quarate with one of those two-wheeled carts which once carried
bricks to the building yards of Florence, and in 1906 Filippo Orlando could
write that “the books, the manuscripts of Caverni, some unpublished and
important, are still kept in an orderly collection with pious veneration by his
family in S. Quirico di Montelupo where he was born; his nephew, Egisto
Caverni, full of intelligence and reverent affection although he lives by the
work of his hands, keeps them all in order in the best room of the house....”
This old friend expressed the hope that these papers would be passed on to
the Biblioteca Nazionale of Florence.
Twelve years later, Father Giovanni
Giovannozzi, printing an unpublished chapter of the Storia, spoke again of that
precious material: “In my studies I have more than once consulted the original
manuscript possessed by the nephews and heirs of Abbot Caverni and made
extracts of it. And now, in agreement with the owners, I am happy to offer
students of the history of science the chapter concerning the doctrine and
works of the ex-Scolopian Famiano Michelini....”
Since then, that is, for
about half a century, I do not think there was any further news of those
manuscripts, nor was there any trace of them in the Florentine archives.
instructions for his funeral—significant for the simplicity and the poetry that
inspires them—he left his books and manuscripts to his older brother, Giuseppe,
with the obligation to transmit them to his eldest son, Egisto, who was in turn
to leave them to his firstborn and so on, as has been done. Egisto Caverni, the
favorite nephew with whom his uncle often met in Florence and who had
taken up the trade of carpenter, went to get them at the parsonage of San
Bartolomeo in Quarate with one of those two-wheeled carts which once carried
bricks to the building yards of Florence, and in 1906 Filippo Orlando could
write that “the books, the manuscripts of Caverni, some unpublished and
important, are still kept in an orderly collection with pious veneration by his
family in S. Quirico di Montelupo where he was born; his nephew, Egisto
Caverni, full of intelligence and reverent affection although he lives by the
work of his hands, keeps them all in order in the best room of the house....”
This old friend expressed the hope that these papers would be passed on to
the Biblioteca Nazionale of Florence.
Twelve years later, Father Giovanni
Giovannozzi, printing an unpublished chapter of the Storia, spoke again of that
precious material: “In my studies I have more than once consulted the original
manuscript possessed by the nephews and heirs of Abbot Caverni and made
extracts of it. And now, in agreement with the owners, I am happy to offer
students of the history of science the chapter concerning the doctrine and
works of the ex-Scolopian Famiano Michelini....”
Since then, that is, for
about half a century, I do not think there was any further news of those
manuscripts, nor was there any trace of them in the Florentine archives.