Antonio Schinella Conti facts for kids

Antonio Schinella Conti (born 1677, died 1749) was an amazing Italian thinker. He was a writer, translator, mathematician, philosopher, and physicist. People also knew him as Abate Conti, which was his religious title. He was born in Padua, Italy, and passed away in the same city.

A Life of Learning

In 1699, Antonio Conti joined a religious group called the Oratorians in Venice. This allowed him to study many subjects like philosophy, math, astronomy, science, and medicine. These studies made him believe that humans could use their minds to understand the world. He thought people could find answers that were different from old religious ideas.

Exploring Europe

In 1713, Conti traveled to Paris, France. There, he became friends with important scientific thinkers like Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle and Nicolas Malebranche.

In 1715, he went to London, England. He wanted to see an eclipse of the sun. While there, he visited the famous scientist Isaac Newton. Conti even helped Newton in a big argument about math with another scientist named Leibniz. During this time, he also became good friends with Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. He translated some of her poems. She also shared her interesting "Turkish Embassy Letters" with him.

In late 1716, he spent six months visiting thinkers in the Netherlands and Germany. After that, he went back to England. He continued working on both science and writing projects there.

Back in Italy

Conti returned to Italy in 1726. He kept encouraging scientific studies at universities. With help from Celia Grillo Borromeo, he even planned to create an Italian science academy.

Even though he was a free-thinking person during the Age of Enlightenment, Conti still had some old ideas. He came from a wealthy family and spent time with important people. He sometimes made fun of others he thought were trying to act more important than they were.

His Writings and Plays

Antonio Conti loved plays and admired the famous writer Shakespeare. He started writing his own play called Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar) while in London. He finished it in 1726.

Later, he wrote three more Roman plays:

• Giunio Bruto (1743)
• Marco Bruto (1744)
• Druso (1748)

Each of these plays came with special introductions written by Conti himself.

He also published new translations of other plays. These included Athalie and Voltaire's Mérope (published in Venice in 1744).

Conti also wrote a series of long songs called cantatas for the composer Benedetto Marcello. These included:

• A duet called Il Timoteo, which used words translated from a poem by John Dryden.
• Five solo songs: Cantone, Lucrezia, Andromaca, Arianna abandonnata, and Cassandra.

Recognition

During his life, a famous artist named Pier Leone Ghezzi drew a picture of Antonio Conti. After Conti passed away, his hometown asked a local sculptor named Felice Chiereghin to create a statue of him in 1781.