From Dante to Gramsci: Italian Political Treatises between ragion di stato and Utopia

This course deals with political and utopian treatises written in Italy during the Middleage, the Cinquecento and up to Antonio Gramsci. After reviewing some aspects of the origins of th epolitical debate that evolved before Machiavelli, we will focus on a number of writers who, from different perspectives, dealt with the complex issues involved in the delicate relations between the rulers and the subjects and the organization of civil life. We will read and analyze, in the light of the historical and political reality of the Italy of the time (a particular troubled reality of the Italian States), selections from the works of Dante, Machiavelli, Guicciadini, Botero, Zoccolo, Campanella and Gramsci.

Required Texts: Dante, Monarchia, a c. di M. Pizzica, Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 1988, Euro 9,50. ISBN-88-17-16682-0, N. Machiavelli, Il Principe, a c. di G. Inglese, Einaudi (E. 8.00) ISBN - 88-06-13851-0, Guicciardini, Ricordi, a c. di G. Masi, Milano, Mursia, 1994, ISBN - 88-425-1595-7, A. Gramsci, Scritti scelti, Milano, BUR, 2007 (E. 14.00) ISBN – 9788817016186