Divided into four sections («beginnings», «transgression», «conformism» and «epilogue»), this book reconstructs the complex intellectual biography of Francesco Pona, physician and writer of Verona (1595-1655). With the aid of precious and often unedited sources, the author traces his education in Padua and Bologna until the straight refusal of the libertine themes he experimented with the Lucerna of 1625. The volume includes a full bibliography of Pona’s manuscripts and printed books.