“Il Villariµ, a Famous History School Textbook. The Origins (1964-1971)

Abstract

This paper addresses Rosario Villari’s scientific activity in the 1960s, when he devoted himself to the writing of the famous History textbook for high schools. Villari’s correspondence with the publisher Laterza enables us to grasp not only the author’s cultural concerns, but also the existential ones. The manuscript submission was repeatedly delayed since he was simultaneously involved in other major works, and mainly in his study into the 1647 Naples revolt against the Spanish rule. Yet, for this reason too Villari managed to condense into his textbook the most recent and stimulating studies and debates of that period, and to transfer the achievements of his own research and of the main international historiography to a schoolbook.