A Brilliant Man of Letters

Reflections on the Triestine Writer Filippo Zamboni

Abstract

Filippo Zamboni (Trieste, 1826 -Vienna, 1910) was a writer distinguished for his studies on Dante, which appear in most of his literary works. The paper focuses on two of his works, namely Gli Ezzelini, Dante, e gli schiavi. Pensieri storici e letterari (The Ezzelini, Dante, and the Slaves: Historical and Literary Thoughts, 1864) and Il bacio nella luna: Pandemonio. Ricordi e bizzarrie (The Kiss in the Moon; Pandemonium; Memories and Oddities, 1911). In addition to analyzing his interpretations of certain passages of the Divine Comedy, the paper also discusses the reviews and criticism published by periodicals with particular reference to the writings of Istrian poet Giuseppina Martinuzzi, who, more any other author, wrote about Filippo Zamboni’s work. Martinuzzi’s manuscript, discussed in this paper, is titled Alcuni stampati e manoscritti di Filippo Zamboni ed altri che di lui dicono (Some of Filippo Zamboni’s Prints and Manuscripts and What Others Said about Him) and kept in the Labin Folk Museum. It allows us to deepen our understanding of the importance of this Dante scholar, who is little known today.