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At the beginning of the seventeenth century in Naples there was a peculiar intersection between the development of free thinking (based on the diffusion of Cartesian thought both in philosophy and in scientific research) and the issue of a powerful middle class that engaged a successful battle against feudal prerogatives, thanks to their juridical skills. This situation gave to the Neapolitan Enlightenment a peculiarity both in terms of cultural activity and in terms of the politics of the kingdom. Pietro Giannone and Costantino Grimaldi were two protagonists of this age and they had the same misfortune.