A new anthology for a new school: cultural projects and publishing strategies from Carducci to Calvino

Abstract

The article traces the history of the Italian anthology in the light of the school reforms that followed from the unification of the country to the 1960s. Particular attention is paid to the activity of the Zanichelli publishing house and its main publications in the field, including Letture italiane by Giosue Carducci and Ugo Brilli (1883), Limpide voci by Ferruccio Bernini and Lorenzo Bianchi (1935) and La lettura by Italo Calvino and Giambattista Salinari (1969). The second part of the article is dedicated to the latter and, through the analysis of unpublished minutes and editorial correspondence, attempts to measure the distance between the original project and its realisation.