Una città dai mille volti. L’immagine di Napoli nelle opere di Zygmunt Krasiński

As many researchers have noted, although Krasiński felt a special affinity for Italy, his relationship to the Italian soil was subjected to emotional variations and changes. The article aims to analyze the complicated and ambiguous relationship between the poet and Naples: a city of many different shades and faces, where Krasiński’s lover Delfina Potocka lived. This ambivalent relationship to Italy is reflected in poet’s correspondence and works.
Naples remains an emblematic city for Krasiński, because in his work it appears, on the one hand, as a perfect backdrop for an ideal place where he can set his love, on the other hand, as unbearable place, where the poet was reluctant to stay there. Most likely, this Krasiński’s dualistic picture of Italy was influenced not only by the socio-political problems of the city, but also, above all, by personal feelings, moods and uneasiness for his suffering homeland.