Una modernità (im)possibile. L’umanesimo italiano come fenomeno storico

This essay offers a critical reflection on the concept of Humanism, with the aim of outlining
its original developments and characters. In this context, the “revolutionary” potential
of Humanism is revealed: a movement that —at the threshold of modernity in its initial
steps especially— contributed decisively to making human culture (studia humanitatis)
autonomous, as opposed to the theological one of Scolastic, and claiming the role of the
lay intellectual. The names of Petrarca, Leonardo Bruni, or Lorenzo Valla conform the
avangard of a phenomenon that expanded througout Italy and, to a certain extent, all
over Europe. The line of argumentation is also driven by the restless question about the
survival of humanistic ideas and epistemology, and foresees a problematic future to studia
humanitatis.