Italy and Italians
Attention towards society in general, and specifically Italian society, was always very much alive in Leopardi; as was his insistence upon the “category” of “Italian spirit”, for which he underlined the importance also from the autobiographical point of view (for example in his “patriotic” All’Italia and Sopra il monumento di Dante, or in the Discorso di un Italiano intorno alla poesia romantica).
His judgement on modern Italy, expressed in its most accomplished forms in the “serious” Discorso sugli Italiani and the “satiric” Paralipomeni, is alas almost always negative; as can also be seen in the pages of the Zibaldone:
The Italians are characterised by their strong imagination, it gives no depth to thought [176-7, 351] – the Italians must not imitate foreigners [869] – if Italy were to become a nation once more it would be invincible [1026] – in Italy the sense of local pride has always been very strong, since medieval times [1092-3] – in Italy Catholicism is less felt, just because it dominates without contrast [1242] – Italy “is not even a homeland, nor a nation” [842, 2063-5] – Italy is the only nation which has had two forms of civilisation, one ancient and one modern, and thus two illustrious languages [2694-700] – “The Italians have no customs: they have some usages”, and therefore there does not exist an Italian “thundering of society” [2923, 3546] – Italian glory in the XVI century [3129, 3887-9] – need to look to France in order to construct “a philosophy and a modern philosophy of literature” [3192-6] – having no politics and no militia, thus not being a nation, it lacks “modern language, literature and philosophy” [3855-63] – the people of the Marche are the most cunning among the Italians [3891-3] – in Italy there is no conversation [4031-3] – in Italy “it is not blame that is infamous, but punishment” [4044-5] – “we Italians are the type of the ferocious betrayer for other nations” [4206] – foreigners love Classical Italy and consider the Italians the custodians of a museum [4267] – in Italy today there are more writers than readers [4301].
