Giovanni Faldella flâneur of Europe

To illuminate the style and figure of Giovanni Faldella (1846-1928), protagonist of the Piedmontese Scapigliatura divided between current events and the cult of the past, between collecting obsolete words and highly original inventions, the essay examines with particular attention the author’s travel writings. Placed in a comparative dialectic with the studies of sociology, aesthetics and philosophy of history by thinkers such as Benjamin, Simmel, Kracauer, Spengler, the texts, the taste and the poetics of this provincial outsider are read here from an unprecedented angle and in a broad European perspective.