Des Los Apeninos a Los Andes

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the death of Ludovico Bertonio SJ (1555–1625), the Pontifical Gregorian University is hosting a meeting dedicated to the figure and work of one of the most important missionaries and linguists of the Society of Jesus in South America. A native of Rocca Contrada (now Arcevia, in the Marche region), Ludovico Bertonio entered the Society of Jesus in 1574 and left for Peru a few years later. He spent most of his life in the mission of Juli, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, one of the most vital centres of Jesuit evangelisation in the Andean region. Here he devoted himself to learning and studying the Aymara language, developing fundamental tools for its understanding and dissemination. These works, among the most important linguistic testimonies of the colonial era, also represent an extraordinary attempt at intercultural dialogue. The event, entitled “De los Apeninos a los Andes. Ludovico Bertonio SJ, misionero y lingüista en los territorios Aymara del Perú virreinal” (From the Apennines to the Andes. Ludovico Bertonio SJ, missionary and linguist in the Aymara territories of viceregal Peru), aims to explore the human, intellectual and missionary profile of the Jesuit, as well as the artistic, linguistic and devotional context of the Jesuit missions on Lake Titicaca.