ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the way in which the theme of somnambulism, within which one of the first formulations of the unconscious emerged, can be traced in Italy. It focuses on a text that played a critical role in cultural and linguistic mediation among England, France, and Italy between the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries: the Saggio Filosofico di Gio. Locke Su L’umano Intelletto, translated and annotated by Francesco Soave. The chapter shows how somnambulism played a central role in the definition and understanding of unconscious mental phenomena such as distraction, dreams, and madness. When Francesco Soave decided to produce an Italian translation of the abridged edition of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, published by John Wynne in 1696, John Locke’s philosophy had already produced its major effects. Soave’s analysis offers at least one element which marks his difference with respect to contemporary and later treatments of somnambulism.
