Note 59 — V ITALY

This is probably one of those traveller’s hasty generalisations which Montaigne occasionally lets drop. In his second visit he modified several of his earlier statements, and a very slight inquiry would have served to show him that letters still flourished in Florence, though not so freely as in the golden time of the earlier Medici. The Accademia Fiorentina was founded in 1540, and the year following his visit saw the beginning of the Della Crusca.