Venice

Venice experienced a period of great cultural fervour in the final decades of the 18th century, when the city was about to lose its political autonomy following the Treaty of Campoformio. Business was extremely intense in the publishing and journalism sectors, thanks in part to the rather bland censorship of the Republic of Venice government, and this made it one of the cities most active in the diffusion and spread of European Enlightenment texts. Venice also offered the public a rich theatre season, with a wide selection of shows, and it welcomed visitors and travellers in its lively salons and its renowned places of entertainment, such as the 'ridotti' venues and its gambling halls, which were especially lively during Carnival. Its vicinity to Padua, the seat of a prestigious university, guaranteed the presence of intellectuals, scientists and literary figures famous throughout Italy.

After moving to Venice, Foscolo was soon introduced to one of the city's most prestigious salons, the one hosted by Isabella Teotochi Albrizzi with whom the young 16-year-old had a brief yet intense romantic relationship. Among the most important figures in the young Foscolo's cultural development were Melchiorre Cesarotti, at the time a professor at the Padua Seminary, and Aurelio de’ Giorgi Bertola (1753-1798), a Rimini-born author of essays on German literature and of Viaggio sul Reno e ne’ suoi contorni fatto nell’autunno del 1787 (Journey on the Rhine and its surrounding areas of autumn 1787), published in 1795. This period was also important for Foscolo's subsequent political choices because he frequented friends from Brescia such as Gaetano Fornasini (1770-1830), the interlocutor for the author's first poetic essays, Giovanni Labus (1775-1853) and Luigi Scevola (1770-1818).