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Galilæana. Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern Science

Focus

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2026)

Practical mathematical knowledge in early modern Verona: Feliciano, Tartaglia and interdisciplinary exchange

DOI
https://doi.org/10.57617/gal-122
Submitted
31 March 2026
Published
2026-11-01

Abstract

This article examines how practical mathematical knowledge was shaped through interactions between abbaco mathematicians and other expert practitioners in early sixteenth-century Verona. During the 1520s and 1530s, the Veronese abbaco masters, Francesco Feliciano and Niccolò Tartaglia both taught practical mathematics, undertook consultancy, and developed successful printed works while working in the city. Through comparing their practices, publications, and professional networks, I argue that the differing communities they engaged with shaped not only the problems they addressed, but also the values they promoted. Feliciano’s surveying activities fostered process-based forms of knowledge directed toward reliability, fairness, and practical competency, while Tartaglia’s engagement with military practitioners encouraged ambitious approaches to motion and theory, with a focus on ingenuity and innovation. Their frontispieces similarly show both a shared image of mathematical expertise and a divergent reach in epistemic ambition. In this way, I show that exchange across professional worlds was not incidental, but integral to the production of abbaco knowledge.

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