Literacy and Learning in Latin and Abacus Schools in Verona (1405–1509)

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This book offers a detailed account of Italian Renaissance education in fifteenth-century Verona, one of the most influential contexts for the teaching of the humanae litterae when the transition from medieval Latin education to the Renaissance humanist curriculum first happened. It is a pathbreaking and methodologically exemplary study, up to date with the most recent Italian and Anglophone scholarship, balancing localized archival discoveries with broader interpretive frameworks.
Drawing upon an extraordinary wealth of archival materials, the author reconstructs a nuanced portrait of teachers, institutions, and educational practices. The book’s empirical rigor is matched by its theoretical sophistication. It not only sheds new light on a crucial period in the history of Italian education but also sets a new standard for the integration of archival research, historiographical reflection, and analytical clarity. Each chapter contributes uniquely to a coherent and compelling narrative. The result is a landmark contribution to both Renaissance studies and the history of education.
Copyright Year:
2026
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-74616-9
Publication:
16 Feb 2026
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-74615-2
Publication:
12 Mar 2026
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Francesca Masiero, Ph.D. (2024), University College London, is a lecturer and research fellow at the University of Verona. Her research was funded by the AHRC and the G.K. Delmas Foundation. Her interests include Renaissance Pedagogy, Intellectual History, and Latin Palaeography.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Impact Statement
Currency
List of Figures and Tables
Abbreviations

Introduction

1 Teachers and Schools in Quattrocento Verona
 1 Communal Schools in Quattrocento Verona
 2 Teacher Numbers in Communal Latin Schools
 3 Private Schooling
 4 Religious Schools
 5 The Magistrae of Verona
 6 The Location of Teachers and Schools
 7 Teaching as a Profession

2 The Financial and Social Status of Teachers
 1 Introduction
 2 Veronese Teachers’ Contribution to the Levy Imposed on the City by Verona
 3 Comparisons with Other Tax Payers’ Cifre D’estimo
 4 Contracts and Salaries
 5 Do Salary Figures Correlate with the Cifre D’estimo?
 6 Non-pecuniary Benefits
 7 The Social Station of Teachers
 8 Conclusion

3 The Relocation of Teachers to and from Verona
 1 Introduction
 2 ‘Changing Places’ in the Veneto of the Fifteenth Century
 3 Inducements to Relocation
 4 Verona: ‘Mater Et Alumna … Doctissimorum Hominum’
 5 Verona’s Connections with Nearby Cities: Venice, Vicenza and Mantua
 6 Veronese Teachers outside the Veneto
 7 Conclusion

4 Latin Schools Run by the Comune
 1 Introduction
 2 Educational Aims of Latin Schools in Verona
 3 The Latin School Classroom
 4 The Survival of the Medieval Curriculum
 5 The New Fifteenth-Century Latin Curriculum in Verona
 6 Latin Learning and Moral Education
 7 The Teaching of Greek Language and Literature
 8 Guarino’s Schools
 9 Preparing Students for Further Education
 10 Conclusion

5 Latin School Teachers and Their Books
 1 Introduction
 2 The Circulation of Texts
 3 Textbooks in Private Libraries
 4 Printed Textbooks in Quattrocento Verona

6 Abacus Teaching in Verona
 1 Introduction
 2 The Abacus in the Veneto
 3 The Introduction of the Abacus in Verona
 4 Public Provision of the Abacus in Verona
 5 The Location of Abacus Schools in Verona
 6 Salaries of Abacus Teachers
 7 The Abacus as a Family Concern in Verona
 8 Printed Abacus Treatises in the Veneto
 9 Abacus Treatises in Quattrocento
 10 Conclusion

7 The Education of Girls in Verona
 1 Introduction
 2 Convent Education
 3 The Education of Girls in Private Settings
 4 Conclusion

Conclusion
Appendix 1: Financial Terminology
Appendix 2: Classification of Teachers
Appendix 3: Campioni d’estimo, 1409–1447
Appendix 4: Campioni d’estimo, 1456–1515
Appendix 5: Teachers’ Financial Status in Verona according to the classi d’estimo
Appendix 6: Financial Contributions of Veronese Professionals
Appendix 7: Teachers in Quattrocento Verona
Appendix 8: Categories of Teahers in Vrona and Their Total Tax Contributions
Appendix 9: Teachers and Their Family Members in Verona
Appendix 10: Teachers’ Salaries in Verona, Vicenza and Venice(1400–1450)
Appendix 11: Location of Teachers Active in Verona, 1409–1515
Appendix 12: Itinerant Teachers Active in the Veneto, 1400–1509
Appendix 13: Database of Teachers in Verona, 1371–1531
Bibliography
Index

Scholars, researchers, undergraduate and post-graduate students, secondary school teachers, historically engaged readers, specialists in History, Education, and Intellectual Culture at libraries and archives, historians of Education, intellectual historians, academics teaching courses on Humanism, Renaissance History, Intellectual History, and History of Education, teaching assistants. Keywords: Medieval, Renaissance, pedagogy, Italian, manuscripts, vernacular, early-printed textbooks, students, schooling, teaching, teachers, Guarino Guarini, Veronese, grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, Humanism, studia humanitatis, pre-university, curriculum, Quattrocento, fifteenth-century, Venice, Veneto, Italy, libraries, archives. Subject areas: Renaissance Studies, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Renaissance Pedagogy, Late Medieval and Early Modern History, Classical Tradition, Reception of the Classics, Intellectual History, Cultural History, Social History, History of Education, History of Science, Italian Language and Literature, Italian Philology, Latin Language, Latin Palaeography, Italian Palaeography, Codicology.
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