Dr. Alessio Cotugno, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia;
Jun.-Prof. Mario Meliadò, Siegen;
Dr. Cecilia Muratori, Queen Mary University of London
This symposium is devoted to the linguistic, historical and philosophical genealogy of the modern concept of Renaissance. It casts light especially on the appropriation and transformation of German scholarship in 19th-century Italy (directly, or via France). The hypothesis that we will explore collaboratively is that this transfer of knowledge led to a new definition of Renaissance, both as a word and as an idea. We want to investigate the different reactions stimulated by the reception in Italy of classical accounts of the Renaissance, especially those by Hegel, Tennemann, Michelet and up to Burckhardt. Combining paper presentations with reading seminars, the symposium addresses philosophical historiography as a practice founded on international exchange, inquiring into its intellectual, political and social motives.
