The problem of the ‘guasto legnaggio’ in Leopardi’s ‘Sopra il monumento di Dante’

Abstract

Amid shallower reactions to the cenotaph to Dante in Florence, Giacomo Leopardi’s ‘Sopra il monumento di Dante’ presents a symptomatic reading of how the empty tomb is emblematic of the weakened cultural state of Italy in the early 19th century. The central issue of the poem is the past's discontinuation; a lack of respect for ‘fathers’ and ‘ancestors,’ and therefore, failed ‘sons.’ In this light, a pair of key indicators of a broken cultural genealogy which were brought up by Leopardi himself in the poem are discussed: Dante had been principally forgotten in the 17th century, and more recently Italy had been subjected to Napoleonic rule. These, along with this lack of a Florentine monument to Dante, pointed toward Italy’s discontinuous relationship with its own cultural history during this time. Unlike most of the celebrations surrounding the moment when Dante’s cenotaph was erected – including Melchiorre Missirini’s essay in which he misuses this very poem – Leopardi’s analysis is truly an intrinsic one. As for how he suggests Italy might mend this problem, however, especially as indicated in particular works of prose written around the same time as this poem, it may be that the young Leopardi, at this early stage of his intellectual development, was still somewhat wanting in a broader realization of what cultural genealogies can and should be.