Nil melius Arte. Paesaggi salentini, temi musicali e formule didascaliche negli emblemi del Seicento riformato

In the Seventeenth Century emblems, allegories and didactic formulas commonly used in the main contexts of enlightened Europe, in the ecclesial environments become such like "preach forms". These subjects produced an interesting repertoire aimed to the revelation of moral virtues. One of the most representative figures of the Protestant area is the Bohemian poet and theorist Daniel Meisner, author of Thesaurus philo-politicus (1623). In this essay, emblems are used to facilitate the transmission of Lutheran doctrine in the European centres not converted yet. The Treatise was published in various editions during the whole XVIIth Century. These virtuous emblems are included into landscape context. Gallipoli compares for the first time in 1629 edition: it's the only example of an Apulian view. At the time, this centre was characterized by a solid Catholic faith and by a continuous economic and social expansion. Both from a careful analysis of the Gallipoli emblem's contents and a comparison of this image with the other ones included in Thesaurus ? full of musical examples ? we assume an unfavorable judgment of the Apulian citizens, guilty for leading a hypotetical, improper conduct, uncontainable by the Christian faith. On the contrary, a real redention opportunity is identified by the acceptance of the Lutheran confession, the only one able to effectively bring men to salvation and to Celestial harmony. These themes contribute to define cultural aspects, models and disseminating materials used among the Rhine area by a different perspective.