Alle origini dell’Odissea deradiana e la fase premilosaica “in italiano” (parte II, continua dal numero 3-4, 2022)

Abstract

Girolamo de Rada’s literary work and above all Milosao, his youth masterpiece have constituted the main subject of research for many scholars, who have analysed its forms, purposes and, especially, the origins. Recent research exploring the earliest phases of the cultural formation of the poet have made it urgent to investigate such origins more in-depth. After having joined the so-called «Calabrian romanticism» – which forms part of the most authentic expressions of Italian Romanticism – Girolamo De Rada composed in Italian displaying the most important ideals which would shortly afterwards appear in Milosao (1836). The reconstruction of his earliest literary experiences and placing them in the correct historical and cultural context reveal the multifaceted influences accompanying the poet up to the final version of Milosao, work which was destined to mark the future of modern Albanian literature. His period spent in Naples becomes thus more important, as here he encountered two other major Arbëresh poets who influenced him and his early literary production. It was this period which also marked his cultural emancipation and maturity, and inspired him to continue with the themes that he had absorbed in his country of origin.