He made two friends early in life and these two friends, the brothers Pietro Verri and Alessandro Verri, would exert powerful influences on him and his work. Pietro was 10 years older than Cesare Beccaria, and Beccaria always looked up to him, especially because Pietro had a literary career followed by a stint in the Austrian army, attaining the rank of captain. Returning to Milan in 1760, Pietro and Alessandro began advocating for political, social, and literary reforms. As part of their reform efforts, they formed a society – later called the “academy of fists” – which waged war against what they saw as disorder in the economy of Milan, the tyranny of bureaucrats, the narrow-mindedness of religious institutions, and intellectual pedantry.
Beccaria became a member of this forward-looking and revolutionary group, attending …show more content…
Later, Beccaria would acknowledge that Pietro “gave me the strength to write” (Paolucci, 1963, p. xiii). Given his emotional state that may have been overly stimulated by the discussions during the day at the academy of fists meetings that often left him drained and without energy, Beccaria tried to write in the evenings. However, writing was such a laborious task that he couldn’t put much time into it and much of his efforts resulted in scattered notes or ideas scribbled on scraps of paper. That’s where Pietro, perhaps his cloest friend, would provide invaluable assistance. Sometime after publication of “On Crimes and Punishments,” Pietro Verri described his role: “I suggested the topic to him and most of the ideas came out of daily conversation between Beccaria, Alessandro, Lambertenghi, and myself” (Paolucci, 1963, p. xiii). Beyond this help, though, Pietro would eventually collect the assorted random ideas on pieces of paper, write them out, arrange them in a logical order, and ultimately make a book of
Beccaria became a member of this forward-looking and revolutionary group, attending …show more content…
Later, Beccaria would acknowledge that Pietro “gave me the strength to write” (Paolucci, 1963, p. xiii). Given his emotional state that may have been overly stimulated by the discussions during the day at the academy of fists meetings that often left him drained and without energy, Beccaria tried to write in the evenings. However, writing was such a laborious task that he couldn’t put much time into it and much of his efforts resulted in scattered notes or ideas scribbled on scraps of paper. That’s where Pietro, perhaps his cloest friend, would provide invaluable assistance. Sometime after publication of “On Crimes and Punishments,” Pietro Verri described his role: “I suggested the topic to him and most of the ideas came out of daily conversation between Beccaria, Alessandro, Lambertenghi, and myself” (Paolucci, 1963, p. xiii). Beyond this help, though, Pietro would eventually collect the assorted random ideas on pieces of paper, write them out, arrange them in a logical order, and ultimately make a book of