Università Roma Tre

Dante and Italy

Whilst Dante is becoming an increasingly global figure, familiar to writers, artists, intellectuals, and readers from all over the world, in the Italian imaginary, the figure of Alighieri is closely tied to Italy, of which he is perceived as one of the emblems, representing its artistic and cultural heritage and identity. This looks like the ultimate outcome of a long-standing process of cultural and identity construction, which has its roots in the years of the Napoleonic wars and lead in the nineteenth century to identify Dante as a "father of the nation," even a prophet of national unity. This powerful symbolic construction was fueled during the First World War and found renewed vitality during Fascism.
The course intends to explore this development by examining some of its main stages through the writings of Ugo Foscolo and Giuseppe Mazzini, up to the "vate" of post-unification Italy, Giosue Carducci. A deeper analysis will be devoted to a particularly emblematic episode of the political use of Dante in a national context, namely the inauguration of the monument dedicated to him in 1896 in the city of Trento, which at the time was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A preliminary stage of this enquire will be the analysis of the actual image of Italy that emerges from Dante's writings, particularly from the linguistic treatise "De vulgari eloquentia," and from some passages of the "Divine Comedy" (most notably, the famous invective to Italy in the sixth canto of the "Purgatory").

The course will focus on a series of texts, which will be read, commented on during the lectures, and discussed in the critical bibliography:
- Dante Alighieri, “De vulgari eloquentia” (ch. 1 e 8-15 of the first book, in translation);
- Dante Alighieri, “Purgatorio” (canti 6-7); NB: Dante's Commedia, along with its commentaries, including several of the most recent ones, are available at http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu;
- Francesco Petrarca, Rvf 129 (canzone “Italia mia, benché ’l parlar sia indarno”);
- Giacomo Leopardi, canzoni “All’Italia” e “Sopra il monumento di Dante che si preparava in Firenze”;
- Ugo Foscolo, carme “Dei sepolcri”; “Discorso sul testo della Divina Commedia” (excerpts)
- Giuseppe Mazzini, “Dell’amor patrio di Dante”; excerpts from other writings;
- Giosue Carducci, a selection of poems and prose writings.

NB1: students will independently acquire the book "De vulgari eloquentia." It is recommended to use the edition edited by Mirko Tavoni (Milan, Mondadori, 2017), and it is advised to read the Introduction, particularly pages v-xxxvii. The other texts will be made available on the Moodle platform.

NB2: The list of texts may undergo some changes during the course. The list of topics covered and the excerpts read during the lectures will be provided gradually on Moodle.

Students will also read:
- Fulvio Conti, Il Sommo italiano. Dante e l’identità della nazione (Roma, Carocci, 2021);
- Anna Pegoretti, Dante a Trento! Usi e abusi di una retorica nazionale (1890-1921) (Roma, Castelvecchi, 2022).

Non-attending students will complement their preparation by also reading...:
- Francesco Bruni, Italia. Vita e avventure di un’idea (Bologna, il Mulino, 2010), cap. 2 (‘Un’invenzione di Dante: l’Italia linguistica’, pp. 69-103, on Moodle);
- Alfredo Cottignoli, «La Bibbia degli Italiani». Dante e la Commedia dal Trecento a oggi (Ravenna, Giorgio Pozzi, 2021), cap. 8 (‘Foscolo, Berchet, Mazzini e l’amor patrio di Dante’, 103-129).