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The Cheese and the Worms

The Cheese and the Worms
Author Carlo Ginzburg
Original title The Cheese and the Worms: the Cosmos of a Sixteenth-century Miller
Country Italy
Subject Popular religion and the Counter-Reformation
Genre Microhistory, Histoire des mentalités, Cultural History
Published 1976
ISBN

The Cheese and the Worms (Italian: Il formaggio e i vermi) is a scholarly work by the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg. The book is a notable example of cultural history, the history of mentalities and microhistory.

The book examines the beliefs and world-view of Menocchio (1532–1599), also known as Domenico Scandella, who was an Italian miller from the village of Montereale, twenty-five kilometers north of Pordenone. His philosophical teachings earned him the title of a heresiarch during the Inquisition and he was eventually burned at the stake in 1599, at the age of 67, on orders of Pope Clement VIII.

Menocchio's literacy may be accounted for by the establishment of schools in the villages surrounding Friuli: Aviano and Pordenone. A school was opened at the beginning of the sixteenth century under the direction of Girolamo Amaseo for, "reading and teaching, without exception, children of citizens as well as those artisans and the lower classes, old as well as young, without payment." It is possible that Menocchio attended a school such as this. He began to read some books available in his locality and began to reinterpret the Bible.

No complete list exists of the books that Menocchio might have read which influenced his view of the cosmos. At the time of his arrest several books were found, but since they were not prohibited, no record was taken. Based on Menocchio's first trial these books are known to have been read.

Based on the testimony from Menocchio's second trial these books also are known to be read.

Many of these books were loaned to Menocchio and were common of the time. How Menocchio read and interpreted these texts might provide insight into his views which led to his execution for proselytizing heretical ideas.


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