Italophilia

Italophilia is the admiration, general appreciation or love of Italy, its culture, society, arts and people. The term is used in two basic contexts: in international politics and in cultural context. "Italophilia", "Italophile", and "Italophilic" are the terms used to denote pro-Italian sentiments, usually in politics and literature. Its opposite is Italophobia.

Contents

Italophilia in history

Renaissance

Across Europe, various people and states admired the developments of the Renaissance in Italy and sought to replicate them.

Francis I of France appointed many Italians to his appellate courts.[1] The powerful French noble family, the Guise were known to be Italophiles and held close family bloodline connections with Italian nobility and royalty.[2]

Renaissance Poland was known to have strong Italophile influences.[3] Famous Italian sculptor Giammaria Mosca was commissioned repeatedly by Poland to create sculptures.[3] King of Poland Sigismund II Augustus requested Mosca in 1529 to construct his tomb, in 1574 the King died and was placed in the tomb made by Mosca.[4]

King John II of Portugal imitated Italian princely style, attempted to pressure the aristocracy to act in Italian manners, and sought to attract Italian artists to the country.[5]

Age of Enlightenment and Grand Tour

During the 18th century, Italy was an integral part of the European Grand Tour, a period in which learned and wealthy foreign, usually British, German or American, aristocrats visited the country due to its artistic, cultural and archaeological richness. Examples included Goethe, Keats, Lord Byron and Shelley. As a matter of fact, most nobles and royals at the time visited Italy as a part of their education. Keats said that the country was a "paradise of exiles".[6]

New Imperialist era

The Victorian era in Great Britain saw Italophilic tendencies. Britain supported its own version of the imperial Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"), called Pax Britannica. John Ruskin was a Victorian Italophile who respected the concepts of morality held in Italy.[7]

Germany under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck copied Pax Britannica and Pax Romana and sought to create Pax Germanica in Europe.

Fascist era

Adolf Hitler was an avid admirer of Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism[8]. During the Fascist era, several leaders in Europe, including Hitler, modeled their government and economic system on Italian Fascism[9]. The admiration and imitation of Italian Fascism also became popular in South America and to a lesser extent Asia. The parties and organizations associated with these leaders also adopted the Roman salute.

See also

References

  1. ^ Monter, E. William. Judging the French Reformation: heresy trials by sixteenth-century parlements. Harvard University Press, 1999. Pp. 9.
  2. ^ Wistreich, Richard. Warrior, courtier, singer: Giulio Cesare Brancaccio and the performance of identity in the late Renaissance. Hampshire, England, UK; Burlington, Vermont, USA: Ashgate Publishing Limited; Ashgate Publishing Company, 2007. Pp. 53.
  3. ^ a b Schultz, Anne Markham; Mosca, Giammaria. Giammaria Mosca Called Padovano: A Renaissance Sculptor in Italy and Poland. Pp. 8
  4. ^ Schultz, Anne Markham; Mosca, Giammaria. Giammaria Mosca Called Padovano: A Renaissance Sculptor in Italy and Poland. Pp. 1
  5. ^ Jack, Malcom. Lisbon, city of the sea: a history. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: I.B. Taurus & Co. Ltd; Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Pp. 42.
  6. ^ http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9332&st=&st1=
  7. ^ Wilson, A. N. The Victorians. New York, New York, USA: W. W. Norton & Company, Ltd, 2003. Pp. 86.
  8. ^ Fulda, Bernhard. Press and Politics in the Weimar Republic. Oxford University Press, 2009. p. 65.
  9. ^ Carlsten, F.L. The Rise of Fascism. 2nd ed. University of California Press, 1982. p. 80.
Cultural appreciation
See also: Anti-cultural sentiment