This essay discusses the formation of “Italian travellers to Iran” as both a popular idea and scientific category. In the three decades after the Second World War, Italy and Iran were going through deep transformations and entered a phase of intense political, economic and cultural relations. In this context, scholarly interests and political agendas jointly contributed to a representation of past travellers as the manifestation of an imagined and almost eternal connection between the two civilizations. This narrative served to rhetorically enhance the role played by both countries in the history of mankind, and the contribution they could still give to humanity as nations among nations. However, these events may have also left their mark on how the history of connections between Italy and Iran, and the history of Iranian studies in Italy, are represented in scholarly milieus.
University of Florence, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-3483-5984
Chapter Title
The Idea of Italian Travellers to Iran. Scholarly Research and Cultural Diplomacy in Post-war Italy
Authors
Emanuele Giusti
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-579-0.11
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2022
Copyright Information
© 2022 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Rereading Travellers to the East
Book Subtitle
Shaping Identities and Building the Nation in Post-unification Italy
Editors
Beatrice Falcucci, Emanuele Giusti, Davide Trentacoste
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
232
Publication Year
2022
Copyright Information
© 2022 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-579-0
ISBN Print
978-88-5518-578-3
eISBN (pdf)
978-88-5518-579-0
eISBN (epub)
978-88-5518-580-6
Series Title
Connessioni. Studies in Transcultural History
Series ISSN
2975-0393
Series E-ISSN
2975-0261