Bertrando Spaventa

Historiography and National Identity Between Renaissance and Risorgimento

Abstract

This article reconstructs the philosophical path followed by Bertrando Spaventa up to the publication of La filosofia italiana nelle sue relazioni con la filosofia europea, which represents the culmination of his studies on the Renaissance. As I will argue, by rediscovering the value of those thinkers belonging to the Italian Renaissance who were already well known and studied outside of Italy, Spaventa offered his contribution to the construction of Italian national identity. However, Spaventa’s attempt was made in clear disagreement with the Neo-Guelph tradition and his discourse on Italian philosophy surprisingly resulted in the denial of any national connotation of modern philosophy.