Università Roma Tre

GENIUS LOCI. ART AND ITALIAN IDENTITY

Over the course of the 20th century, Italy sought its own cultural center of gravity: an identity capable of solving its relation to a modernity perceived by many—in schizophrenic fashion—both as a disruptive force, and as an indispensable element of any self-definition. Reference to a cultural heritage that is as incomparable as it is unsteady and contradictory has sometimes condensed around the notion of genius loci, a concept which has come to represent, especially in the visual arts field, a kind of fantastical answer to questions about the identity of Italian art. This book reconstructs a genealogy of the genius loci, connecting moments of Italian history, from the post-unification creation of a national art history to Fascism, from the Eighties to the present day. It provides both a reliable account and a critical reading of the fortunes of this idea. At stake in this non-linear genealogy of discourses, memories, and imaginings is the cultural and inevitably political self-recognition of contemporary Italy.

Stefano Chiodi, Genius Loci. Anatomia di un mito italiano, Quodlibet, Macerata 2021

A selection of texts and essays is available in PDF format in the "team" File repository.

GENIUS LOCI. ART AND ITALIAN IDENTITY

Over the course of the 20th century, Italy sought its own cultural center of gravity: an identity capable of solving its relation to a modernity perceived by many—in schizophrenic fashion—both as a disruptive force, and as an indispensable element of any self-definition. Reference to a cultural heritage that is as incomparable as it is unsteady and contradictory has sometimes condensed around the notion of genius loci, a concept which has come to represent, especially in the visual arts field, a kind of fantastical answer to questions about the identity of Italian art. This book reconstructs a genealogy of the genius loci, connecting moments of Italian history, from the post-unification creation of a national art history to Fascism, from the Eighties to the present day. It provides both a reliable account and a critical reading of the fortunes of this idea. At stake in this non-linear genealogy of discourses, memories, and imaginings is the cultural and inevitably political self-recognition of contemporary Italy.

Stefano Chiodi, Genius Loci. Anatomia di un mito italiano, Quodlibet, Macerata 2021