ABSTRACT
The first mention in an Italian periodical of Shelley's name occurred in 1825, three years after his death, in an article reviewing Thomas Medwin's collected work, Conversations of Lord Byron. The focus on Shelley's aspirations towards higher ideals makes this essay particularly important for identifying the origins of his fortune in fin-de-siecle Italy, as if his aspirations already foreshadowed a substantial change in the way literature was perceived. Nonetheless, it is important to readdress the relation between these two periods, in order to explore the founding elements which characterized the development of Shelley's reception throughout the nineteenth century. Referring to the large number of publications circulating in England, the Italian critic elaborates on the limited reception of Shelley in Italy and widens the spectrum of investigation, by drawing attention to the lack of a wide literate public. His remark is, indeed, very important, in that it contextualizes Shelley's reception in Italy within the cultural and social framework of post-unification Italy.
