This project aims to reconstruct the way in which Europe as a cultural space came to be defined in the period stretching from the late 17th-early 19th centuries by means of the ties forged among men of letters and the diplomatic network. Studying this dynamic from an Italian perspective is particularly interesting as, during the 18th century, the older geopolitical reality in the Italian peninsula had, from a European point of view, formed an area of crucial interest where the envoys of the various powers intervened extensively. By exploiting the privileges of their status, as well as the leeway often accorded by belonging to Masonic reseaux, many of them dedicated themselves to cultural mediation and promotion. The network of ties they contributed to creating represented a decisive spur to the study of antiquity and artistic production, along with the circulation of texts, translations, theatrical works, and publishing. Overall, and above all through the literary works at the centre of our investigation, in its turn this mass of exchanges favoured the diffusion of political themes, new philosophical paradigms, and scientific models.
From a general long-term perspective, the project therefore intends to contribute to reflection on the process of how the European area came to be defined and the way in which it was formed; this will be compared with other geopolitical models, both ancient and modern: on the one hand there are the republics of the ancient world, the Roman empire, and the oriental ‘tyrannies’; while on the other lie the Russian and Turkish ‘Orient’, the Swiss Federal Republics, and the USA.
From a wider perspective, yet more internal to the discipline, the purpose of the project is also that of demonstrating the central role of literature in the political dynamics of the Ancien Régime and the historical phase immediately after, as well as contributing to a new conception of the problems of periodization and historiographical articulation by focusing on this crucial juncture in the transition to modernity.