Il Giornale de’ letterati d’Italia e la ‘Repubblica dei matematici'

In this paper are presented the motivations and strategies of the founders of the Giornale de' letterati d'Italia as far as concern topics of mathematics: the choice of the collaborators and authors, and the network in the various regions of Italy. The aim is to evaluate the impact which this journal had on Italian scientific publishing, the readership they addressed, the relationship with censorship, the editorial choices when faced with the controversies that arose, the importance of the numerous biographical-panegyrics of authors both dead and living and the significance of the self-reviews. Finally are discussed the reasons for the cultural and publishing success in avant-garde mathematical research, the benefits and services given to the society of the time, the launch of new publications and the influence on some learned journals founded subsequently, in order to see their legacy in Italian scientific culture in the second half of the 18th century.