La Spagna nello Zibaldone

This paper analysese the Zibaldone letters, in which Leopardi makes observations on the Spanish nation, in an attempt to identify Leopardi’s true opinion on the social, anthropological, cultural, linguistic and literary conditions of Spain. Above all, Leopardi believes that Spain lives in a condition of decline, especially in comparison with its glorious past. This opinion is probably born of Giacomo’s anti-progressive view of history. In addition, the Zibaldone passages concerning Spain were written during the years of historic pessimism, in which it was widely believed that the «auroral era» had been lost from the world, an idea which has not been completely abandoned. It emerges from this analysis that one of Leopardi’s main interests is that to compare Spain and Italy, in an evident perception of an intimate affinity between the two countries. Among the customs that Italy derived from Spain, there is leaning towards awarding long, pompous titles of rank. On a whole, Leopardi believes that Italian condition is much worse than the Spanish one, because Spain has preserved some elements of natural spirit and therefore of vitality, while Italy lost it. In the Zibaldone letters there are also passages concerning Spanish virtue in war, the description of its customs and its religiousness. They also allude to a peculiar opinion of Leopardi that no Spanish literary work would ever attract international acclaim. The last part of the essay concerns Leopardi’s observations on Spanish language. He defends the idea of a very close linguistic affinity between Italian and Spanish. Many words have been included in the vocabulary of one of the two languages coming from the other language, without them being perceived as foreign words at all.