The Accademia degli Apatisti was founded by Agostino Coltellini and Benedetto Fioretti under the patronage of Cosimo III de' Medici.
The Academy had grown out of meetings held by Coltellini and his young companions in his lodgings in the Via dell'Oriuolo, during and immediately after the plague of 1630-1, for the purpose of mutual assistance and encouragement in their studies.
Their name derives from the Greek term ἀπάθεια, impassibility, describing the rational, emotionally detached attitude towards life upheld by the Academy members.
Their motto was "Oltre i confini ancor del mondo nostro" ('Beyond the confines of this world of ours'), a line by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso.
[3] When John Milton visited Florence in 1638-9 he befriended many of the Apatisti, notably Benedetto Buommattei, Carlo Dati and Agostino Coltellini.