On March 25, 1582, the Accademia della Crusca was born, destined for the study and preservation of the Italian national language. The event takes shape in Florence with the decisive contribution of the scholar Leonardo Salviati who proposes to separate the 'fior di farina', that is the good language, identified with the Florentine of the fourteenth century, from the 'bran'. The symbol of the Academy is the "beater", the tool used to separate the good part of the flour from the bran. It is of course a metaphor, in fact we want to distinguish the pure part of the language (the flour) from the bad one (bran).
Bran Academy
The Academy together with the Opera del Vocabolario Italiano Institute (OVI), is located in the Medici Villa of Castello, a Florence. Currently the Academy is one of the most important scientific research centers dedicated to the study and promotion of Italian. Specifically, it aims to acquire and disseminate in Italian society, especially in schools and also abroad, the historical-cultural knowledge of the language of our nation.
From the first moment of its establishment, the Accademia della Crusca has worked for the consolidation and dissemination of the linguistic tradition, an element of sharing and cohesion for the entire population of our country. His vocabulary, the first edition of which came out in 1612, has become a model for all other dictionaries of European languages. Reproposed in various and increasingly extensive editions, in the aftermath of the Unification, it presented itself to the entire Italian society with the first volume of the fifth and monumental edition, defined as the 'great book of the nation'.
The Academy has always undertaken a program of initiatives which highlight and enhance the decisive role of language in the process of national unification. In addition to conferences and public initiatives, the Academy has carried out and continues to promote important publishing projects in defense and promotion of our Italian language, a great wealth of Italian history and tradition.
(Photo from the Accademia della Crusca Facebook page)
