Searching for the Italian Language

Leading up to our annual celebration of Italian dialects, L’eco dei Dialetti, Dr. Giulio Leghissa takes us on a fascinating journey through the linguistic landscape of medieval Italy, guided by one of its greatest figures: Dante Alighieri. Drawing on Dante’s influential treatise “De vulgari eloquentia”, this talk explores the rich variety of regional languages spoken across Italy in Dante’s time and his quest to identify a language worthy of great literature.
Along the way, participants will discover how Dante’s work became a cornerstone for understanding medieval Italian dialects and shaped centuries of debate about the origins, evolution, and identity of the Italian language.

Bio:
Giulio Leghissa, PhD

Giulio Leghissa holds a PhD in Classics, Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology from the University of Toronto and is currently a Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto. His research examines the reception of Classical ideas and texts in modern Western culture, as well as the influence of the Classics on Western Orientalist literature. He also explores the relationship between the study of Greek and Latin and Western colonialism in Asia.