Un dannunzista tra due ‘Indici’: Guido da Verona, il Sant’Uffizio e la censura di regime

Abstract

The works of Guido da Verona were proscribed in the Index of Prohibited Books in 1920, thus receiving unexpected publicity from the Vatican’s ban. In 1930, on the contrary, the controversies which followed the publication of the irreverent parody of Alessandro Manzoni’s I promessi sposi marked the rapid decline of Da Verona’s career. This essay discusses Guido da Verona’s struggle with both ecclesiastical and fascist censorship, thus highlighting the effects of book forbiddance on the Italian literary canon of the early twentieth century and of its impact on the definition of an Italian national literature. Finally, the article reflects on the central role played by book censorship in the context of the tense political relationship between Pius XI and Mussolini in the wake of the Concordat of 1929.