La cultura catalana a Itàlia: el cas de Cesare Giardini.

Abstract

This paper looks at aspects of the life and work of the Italian Catalanophile Cesare Giardini (Bologna 1893–Milan 1970) up until the 1930s. Giardini’s initial activity as an actor afforded him the chance to travel to Barcelona in 1912 with the theatre company of the great Italian actress Lyda Borelli. During the month that Giardini spent in Barcelona, he was able to get in touch with a number of representatives of Catalan culture despite his considerable youth. In the 1920s, he began working with the Milan publishing firm Edizioni Alpi, which published Italian translations of Catalan works, such as The Catalan Nationality by Enric Prat de la Riba (1924). Giardini’s efforts to disseminate Catalan literature also involved his publication of a large number of articles in various newspapers and magazines throughout his long career. In 1926, he put out an anthology of Catalan poets through the publishing firm of Piero Gobetti (Edizioni del Baretti) and this anthology would be reprinted in 1950 with few changes.