Synopses & Reviews
This volume of essays offers a series of new insights into the "age of the Enlightenment," not only in Italy but throughout Europe. In its political reforms, intended to attack feudalism and the Church and to modernize the economic and judicial systems, Naples was influenced by European culture. But Naples also exercised a strong influence on European culture: the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the musical culture of the city, had great importance in shaping the modern, enlightened culture of Europe.
Review
"a welcome addition to the material available in English on the history of the Italian South." Jrnl of Interdisciplinary History"...a useful update on scholarship in a variety of intellectual and creative fields in Naples in the eighteenth century...Naples in the Eighteenth Century is to be commended for drawing together work in highly distinct fields...which originated in the same city and century and in such a way as to be of interest to scholars not only of the Enlightenment, but also of European history." Canadian Journal of History"this book is welcome...The book also contains a useful bibliography...The book is a valuable source on the Neapolitan state, society, and culture during the Age of Enlightenment. It will be particularly useful to students interested in this period in general and in Italy in particular." The International History Review Dec 2001
Table of Contents
Introduction Girolamo Imbruglia; 1. The capital and the provinces Maria Grazia Maiorini; 2. The court: power relations and the forms of social life Giovanni Montroni; 3. The arrogance of the market: the economy of the kingdom between the Mediterranean and Europe Biagio Salvemini; 4. Enlightenment in eighteenth-century Naples Girolamo Imbruglia; 5. Feudal questions, judicial systems and the Enlightenment Anna Maria Rao; 6. The intellectual and the academies Elvira Chiosi; 7. Music and enlightenment Renato Di Benedetto; 8. Antiquarian studies at Naples at the end of the eighteenth century Alain Schnapp; 9. How not to finish a revolution Antonio Di Francesco.