Nicola Andria e l’ingresso della chimica pneumatica nel Regno di Napoli

: In The XVIII century chemistry underwent a great revolution in both its frame, contents and the very image of chemistry as a science. Historians of science wrote a lot about the chemical revolution and its spread from France through Europe and the northern regions of Italy, thanks to the influence of A. L. Lavoisier. However even today we can find hardly anything with regards to what happened to the “ new chemistry “ in Southern Italy. The aim of this paper in a study of how, when and in which ways the ideas of chemical revolution were gathered and spread among scholars in the kingdom of Naples, is to be a historical reconstruction of the Apulian doctor Nicola Andria’s chemical reflections. The paper concentrates on Andria’s thoughts about the general shift in considerations by European scholars from one air, the Aristotelic element, to a system of several airs in pneumatic chemistry. From the study of six chemical books of the Italian chemist results a progressive change to the meaning of the word “ air “ and the concept behind it.