Titolo della tesi: Patria, lingua, religione: gli studi indologici in Italia durante il Risorgimento attraverso il Fondo Turrini.
The thesis focuses on the institutional and intellectual history of the Indological studies in Italy during the Risorgimento by making use of unpublished archival sources such as private correspondences, handwritten manuscripts, notes, etc. Besides the historical perspective, this research represents among others a venture into the history of ideas related to the Indological discourse in 19th century Italy. In order to place the Italian Indology in its broader context, I take into consideration both the local, national, and international historical and cultural scenario. Because of both transnational reception and nation-building concerns, the history of Italian Indology between 18th and 19th century provides a unique perspective in the context of European approaches to ancient South Asian literary and religious culture. Even though its transnational dimension, the Indological discourse in Italy presents unique features, due to the political and cultural background. As a matter of fact, the Indological discourse in its linguistic, racial, and religious contents, emerges as a rhetorical tool in a formative moment for the Italian nationhood. Between the pre- and post-unified Italy, the advent of disciplines such as Comparative Indo-European philology, comparative mythology and the science of religions came to be regarded as a vehicle to modernity and secularization against the Catholic and traditional thought. Far from being a monolithic intellectual phenomenon, Italian Indology reflected the political and cultural debates which deeply animated the Italian society at that time. South Asian literary culture and its religious past were approached from different perspective by scholars, which reflected different political, ideological and among others theological concerns. Considering the Protestant perspective which dominate the European approach to South Asian past, this work will show how the Italian Indologists, even though animated by anti-Catholic positions, pursuing a quest for a secularizing turn of the Italian society, replicated a scientific discourse deeply rooted in a theological perspective. On the other side, Catholic Indologists tried to counter the German Protestant perspective, along with the rationalist influence and the new approach to the Christian religion provided by the science of religions and comparative mythology, which countered the biblical account and Catholic dogmas.