Accademia della Crusca

President: Prof.ssa Nicoletta Maraschio

In both Italy and worldwide, the Accademia della Crusca is among the leading institutions in the field of research on the Italian language. At present its activity is centered on the following:

* supporting scientific activity and the training of new researchers in Italian linguistics and philology through its Centres and in cooperation with Universities;

* acquiring and spreading, in Italian society as a whole and especially in schools, historical knowledge of the Italian language and awareness of its present evolution, in the context of the cross-linguistic exchanges that are so common in the present world;

* collaborating with the most important foreign institutions as well as with Italian and European Governments, to support the cause of multilinguism on our continent.

The Accademia della Crusca - literally 'the Bran Academy' - was founded in Florence between 1582 and 1583 on the initiative of five Florentine men of letters. One of them was Lionardo Salviati, inventor of a complete cultural and language-coding programme. The name "Accademia della Crusca" was derived from their lively meetings, playfully called "cruscate" ('bran-meetings'), and came to signify the work of 'cleaning up' the language (the bran is the part of the wheat that is discarded when the grain is cleaned up). The newly founded institution adopted as its motto a line from a poem by Francesco Petrarca: "il più bel fior ne coglie" ('she picks the fairest flower') and built up a rich symbology based on wheat and bread.

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