Tommaso Campanella

Tommaso Campanella (1568 – 1639), was an Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet. Campanella's heterodox views brought him into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. Denounced to the Inquisition and cited before the Holy Office in Rome, he was confined in a convent until 1597.

After his liberation, Campanella's aim was to establish a society based on the community of goods and wives. Betrayed by two of his fellow conspirators, he was captured and incarcerated in Naples. Pleading insanity, he managed to escape the death penalty and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Campanella spent twenty-seven years imprisoned. During his detention, he wrote his most important works: The Monarchy in Spain, Political Aforisms, Atheismus triumphatus, Metaphysica, Theologia, and his most famous work, The City of the Sun (1602/1623). He even intervened in the first trial against Galileo Galilei with his courageous The Defense of Galileo.

Campanella was finally released from his prison in 1626, Campanella was restored to full liberty in 1629. He lived for five years in Rome, where he was Pope Urban's advisor in astrological matters.