Every year since 2001 the third week of October has played host to La Settimana Della Lingua Italiana, celebrated by Italian language learning institutions across the world.
Since starting my Italian studies, little over two years ago now, the week’s become a regular occurrence to me, having Initially experienced it at the University of Bath and now here at AEF. The week celebrates everything tied to the Italian language, including its cultural, historical and contemporary importance. As a result, as a learner I’ve found it the perfect opportunity to immerse myself in the real-life roots of the language.
Each year the theme of the week changes to give fresh opportunities and perspectives for the various events that take place throughout. This year, that theme is “L’italiano e il libro: il mondo fra le righe”, setting out the aim to explore the connections between Italian language and literature both throughout history and now in the 21st century.
The week also aims to promote the importance of the book as a vehicle for Italy’s cultural heritage and identity, with good reason, having been a literary inspiration for generations. With this in mind, I began to consider how Italian literature had shaped my personal learning and cultural experience in the country.
Given AEF’s location in Central Florence, at the heart of Tuscany, it’d be hard to ignore the poet and piece of literature born of this region that went on to be one of the most influential works of all time: Dante’s La Divina Commedia. A small walk around the city centre and you can still see its importance today, with various shops and restaurants bearing his name or image as well as his statue in Santa Croce.
The poem itself is split into three sections: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso, presenting an allegorical telling of a soul’s journey toward God, and how mediaeval life, philosophies and attitudes altered this. Many places referenced in the book still exist, and are relevant today. So, it’s easy to see why it continues to hold such contemporary importance not just in the literary world but also as a thing of pride for many Italians even now. To many it serves as a historical marker for how the Italian landscape and cultural identity acted and continues to act now as such an inspiration for the arts.
Historically, the Italian language has also been affected by literature in a more practical sense, as to a large extent it was literature that allowed the language to be nationally dispersed after its creation. One book that played a big role in this is Alessandro Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi.
The story tells the tale of two young lovers who face a series of hardships in the face of their relationship. The plot proved popular, but it was Manzoni’s use of a more colloquial and understandable variance on the Tuscan dialect, historically the Italian dialect most used in literature, that proved so impactful. The book was printed across what was to become Italy, around 20 years before Unification.
So as the Unification process took place, the novel and the language used by Manzoni in it became a perfect model to work off, consolidating a nationally written language, a persistent issue that had faced Italian unity. Its educational impact continues on to today, as the national curriculum in Italy as well as schools abroad learn of the novel and its impact.
However, on a more personal side, literature surrounding Italian culture and life has also been something that has driven my inspiration for learning the language. One part of Italian life that I’ve always felt an affinity for is their tifosi culture, the great passion they show for sport and all the suffering that comes with it. A book that encompasses this to me, and has inspired a few of the sporting trips I’ve made during my time so far here is, Gironimo! Riding the truly terrible 1914 Tour of Italy.
The book pretty much does what it says on the tin, telling the story of the author's attempt to journey around the entire country via the route of the 1914 Giro D’Italia bike race, often considered one of the toughest cycling races of all time, on a bike from that era.
Throughout the story it tells of the hardships he faces, but also of the incredible food, scenery and people he meets through his journey, opening up a window into the Italian lifestyle and people. It was the view through this window that I often think inspired me to choose to study Italian over other languages.
Overall, I think it’s clear to see just how impactful Italian literature has been throughout history as well as today, inspiring the language of the arts, the political nation and the personal love that is held for the country. So here’s to La Settimana della lingua Italiana and all the books read in it.
