Franco Venturi (

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 1914 -

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, December 14, 1994) was an Italian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, a scholar of the Enlightenment in Italy and of the

history of Russia The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start-date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in 862, ruled by Varangians. Staraya Ladoga and Veli ...

, and an

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...

active in the Resistance.

Life

In 1915, the year after Venturi was born, his father Lionello Venturi, having had his frustration reach its maximum point, decided to start another family in

where he won the competition to fill the chair of Film Director at the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. The younger Venturi attended

Liceo classico Cavour Liceo Ginnasio statale "Camillo Benso di Cavour" is the oldest Liceo classico in Turin and one among the oldest and most prominent high schools in Italy, for pupils aged 14 to 19. It was transferred to its present location in 1931. History It was ...

and during the Resistance and later was active in the ranks of the Action Party; he was captured and subjected to confinement in

Avigliano Avigliano ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geography Overview The area surrounding Avigliano is considered mountainous with elevations varying between . Town's ...

between 1941 and 1943.

Career

Venturi's greatest achievement is his multivolume work ''Settecento Riformatore'', of which three volumes have been translated into English under the general series title ''The End of the Old Regime in Europe'' *''The End of the Old Regime in Europe, 1768-1776: The First Crisis'' *''The End of the Old Regime in Europe, 1776–1789, I: The Great States of the West'' *''The End of the Old Regime in Europe, 1776–1789, II: Republican Patriotism and the Empires of the East'' In addition, he published a volume of his selected essays, under the title ''Italy and the Enlightenment: Studies in a Cosmopolitan Century''. In 1969, he gave the

G. M. Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was a British historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the ...

lectures at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, published in 1971 as ''Utopia and Reform in the Enlightenment''. Other than his work on the Enlightenment, Venturi made his greatest contributions in the field of 19th-century Russian history, concentrating on the history of ideas: *''Roots of Revolution: A History of the Populist and Socialist Movements in 19th Century Russia'' *''Studies in Free Russia''

Influence

The Italian philosopher and sociologist of religions Edoardo Grendi discussed a PhD dissertation on the

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a li ...

aesthetics under the supervision of Venturi, before moving to the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

where he was already working on the history of British labour movement between the 189th and the 20th century. Grendi continued the studies of Gabriel Le Bras to investigate statutes and real life of the Roman Catholic local and lay confraternities. He affirmed they weren't originated by the ecclesiastical hierarchy, but by a natural process of group devotion which made lay confraternities the main center of the

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

n popular spirituality until the suppression decreed by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

in the Enlightment century.

References

* Cecilia Carnino, "Rereading Franco Venturi's Eighteenth Century: Absolutist monarchy between reform and revolt," ''History of European Ideas'', 35,1 (2009), 11–23.

Life

Career

Influence

References

Further reading