La Colonna Traiana raccontata: un'anteprima delle Lezioni americane calviniane.

The paper focuses on the essay Trajan's Column narrated, which is part of the latest collection published by Italo Calvino himself. It is therefore a work of maturity. The purpose of our analysis is twofold: firstly, we want to make known Calvino's reading of the Trajan's Column - this "epic carved in the stone, one of the most extensive and perfect figurative narrations that are known to us" -, a writing little known to the wide audience. Secondly, we wish to emphasize the literary merits of this short, yet very dense essay, highly representative for the Italian writer's way of making literature, and already encompassing his recommendations for the next millennium literature: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, multiplicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]