Modern Greek studies in Italy (1866–1897) : Philhellenic revival and classical tradition through the lens of the Nuova Antologia

Abstract

During the long era of Italian philhellenism, interest in modern Greece was more than just political and ideological. In particular, in the second half of the nineteenth century, the philhellenism of the Risorgimento period was animated by an interest in the culture of modern Greece and by the wish to investigate the character and most significant aspects of the civilisation and literary production of modern Greece. In the context of literate and pluralistic Italian editorial opinion, the magazine Nuova Antologia exhibited a sincerity of interest in modern Greece in the years when Italy and Greece were still engaged in the process of national resolution and finding their places within the European political and cultural scene.