Giuseppe Valletta

Born in Naples, he studied literature under the Jesuits as a child before switching to law. In 1663 he, Francesco D'Andrea and others formed the Accademia degli Investiganti, which gave added impetus to the cultural renewal of southern Italy in the last decades of the 17th century. Its members like Valletta, D'Andrea, Tommaso Cornelio and Leonardo Di Capua actively supported the progressives in the heated philosophical-scientific debates of the time between progressives and conservatives. In 1681 he paid to found a chair in ancient Greek at the University of Naples, putting his own tutor and friend Gregorio Messere in charge of teaching.^[1] His nephew Francesco also became a scholar.

In 1687 he edited the Naples edition of Francesco Redi's Bacco in Toscana as well as Redi's complete works.^[2] He gathered a library of 18,000 books which became known as the Helluo librorum et Secli Peireskius alter.^[3] After Valletta's death in Naples, Giambattista Vico's efforts ensured that the library was merged into the Biblioteca dei Girolamini.

• Lettera in difesa della moderna filosofia e de' coltivatori di essa, 1691.
• Historia filosofica, 1697–1704.

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