Literary Technology, Narrative-Building and Material Epistemology in the Saggi di Naturali Esperienze

First published in 1667, the 'Saggi di naturali esperienze' was the only official publication of the Accademia del Cimento. Whether or not the publication was intended to mark the end of the Academy, what is certain is that it was intended as its public introduction. The paper argues that the 'Saggi' can be better understood and appreciated when considered as a cultural product coming from and strictly related to what Davis Baird calls “the material theatre” of knowledge, thus fostering epistemological views that make it one of the earliest works entirely relying on instrumental objectivity and treating operative manipulation of experimental apparatuses as the main source of scientific knowledge.