Aristide Torchia
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Aristide Torchia is a fictional character from The Club Dumas, a 1993 novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The events of the novel take place hundreds of years after Torchia's death, and he is referenced only as a historical figure. He is also mentioned in the film The Ninth Gate, which is based on the novel.
Torchia was born in 1620. He apprenticed in Leyden under the Elzevir family. After returning to Venice he published small works on philosophical and esoteric themes. In 1666, Torchia published De Umbrarum Regni Novem Portis (The Nine Doors to the Kingdom of Shadows), which was in turn based on the Delomelanicon, or Invocation of Darkness, a work supposedly written by Lucifer and that would allow the reader to summon devils. The Inquisition condemned Torchia for magic and witchcraft and burned him at the stake in 1667.
The character of Torchia is possibly based on the life of Giordano Bruno, burned as a heretic in 1600.
