Donnolo e la sua formazione

Despite various studies devoted to Shabbetay Donnolo in the past decades, the knowledge of his cultural and scientific background is still far from completeness. New problems and issues rise, indeed, each time modern scholars try to approach the figure of this peculiar son of Byzantine Jewry; and an exaustive analysis of all the available sources has not been accomplished yet, both for Donnolo’s works and environment. In this essay, some test-cases are proposed to scholar’s attention as suitable for future researches: 1) the disputable literary unity of Donnolo’s main opus, the Sefer hakmônî; 2) the meaning and value of Donnolo’s autobiographical hints included in his writings; 3) the identification of some of his teachers and colleagues; 4) the provenance of skills and knowledges he shared with non-Jewish scholars living in Byzantine South Italy.