Press & Media

Rome, 22 february 2011

A journey through the masterpieces of Italian literature

Finmeccanica is the official sponsor of the exhibition dedicated to Italian literature that is being held at Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome from 22 February until 3 April. To mark the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, the exhibition brings together for the first time under one roof the original manuscripts of some of Italy's most important literary works: from I Promessi Sposi [The Betrothed] by Alessandro Manzoni and Gerusalemme Conquistata [Jerusalem Conquered] by Torquato Tasso to L’Infinito [The Infinite] by Giacomo Leopardi and Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. The unifying thread running through the exhibition is the text of Storia della Letteratura italiana [The History of Italian Literature] by Francesco de Sanctis, which takes the visitor on a journey that starts with the poetic origins of Dante and Petrarch and continues through Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Ariosto, Tasso, Galileo, Foscolo, Manzoni and Leopardi, describing the cultural roots of an Italy unified 150 years ago, and now waiting to be rediscovered.