ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to place Gramsci's interest in linguistics in the context of the scientific debates on the Etruscan language that were ongoing in his days. Gramsci addresses this question in some pages of his Notebooks: his interest is particularly attracted by the works of Alfredo Trombetti, an illustrious scholar whose name is linked to one of the numerous attempts to decipher the Etruscan language. Trombetti was also quite close to the fascist regime, and this explains to some extent the particular attention of Pericle Ducati, one of the most important scholars of those years, who was “organico” to the regime. The document seeks to shed light on the peculiar intertwining of academic, political, and personal levels that explains several aspects of this story.
