On 15 October 2021, an international conference organised by Stefano Ferrari was held via videoconference: Il conte Carlo Firmian (1716-1782): nuovi itinerari di ricerca, in collaboration with the Società di Studi Trentini di Scienze Storiche and the Accademia Roveretana degli Agiati.
Imperial Ambassador to Naples (1753–1758), then Minister Plenipotentiary of Austrian Lombardy (1759–1782), Firmian oversaw the reform policy initiated from Vienna by the Habsburg administration, implementing the guidelines set out by Chancellor Kaunitz. A patron and art lover, he amassed a vast collection of books (around 40,000 volumes) and engravings, as well as numerous works of art, which, upon his death, largely enriched the heritage of the city of Milan.
Carlo Firmian is a key figure in what has been termed the ‘diplomacy of letters’, that is to say, those circles of senior officials who, alongside their administrative and ministerial duties, were able to undertake various patronage initiatives in the fields of literature and art. Originally from Trentino, Firmian succeeded in building up a vast international network of correspondents and collaborators around him.
The papers presented at the 2021 conference, and the contributions collected in the proceedings published in 2023 by Stefano Ferrari (again with the support of the Società di Studi Trentini di Scienze Storiche and the Accademia degli Agiati), confirmed the richness and complexity of this figure, who played an undisputed role in the institutional, political and cultural history of Austrian Lombardy in the 18th century.
My paper presented at the conference, published under the title “Ministro, protettore, avversario. I vari volti di Carlo Firmian nelle carte dell’Archivio Verri, con una scelta di lettere inedite”, analyses the ambivalent relationship between Pietro Verri and Carlo Firmian, based on an examination of private documents and their unpublished correspondence. I have published, as an appendix to my article, an annotated edition of nine letters between Pietro Verri and Firmian, written in French and Italian.
Reference: Ferrari Stefano (ed.), Il conte Carlo Firmian (1718-1782): nuovi itinerari di ricerca, Trento / Rovereto, Società di studi trentini di scienze storiche / Accademia roveretana degli Agiati, 2023.
You can watch my presentation on this topic from the conference below:
Several other papers presented at the conference can be viewed at this address.