The unsolved mystery of the current seal of Gioeni's Academy

Abstract

The seal currently used today in documents of the Gioeni's Academy appeared for the first time in 1889, on the frontispiece of the volume I, Series IV of Atti. In Diplomas released to Fellows and in the correspondence and accounting papers during the nineteenth century do not even appear the smoking Etna and the emblem of Sicily, but stands out only the emblem of an owl overlying the Greek sigma, surrounded by the inscription "Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali", placed as an oval stamp. Even in the second Statute of the Academy, approved in 1889, does not appear any indication about the academic logo. That of the present time is made up assembling three parts: a) the owl and the sigma, both of coin origin (Greek-Sicilian and from Catania coins), also present in Catania University graduation seals of the nineteenth century; b) laurel wreath, also rarely used in coins and medals; c) the Latin motto «Prudens magis quam loquax», present in the frontispiece of Giornale del Gabinetto letterario edited by the Gioeni's Academy since 1834, later removed (1856) and incorporated into the logo in 1889. That motto coupled with the owl already appeared in emblems of the sixteenth century. Given that in local Historical Archives and Public Libraries it has not been possible to find any official document about the adoption of the modern logo, the instigators and the authors, or the author, of the collage remain mysterious.