Italian Literature

Among the numerous material evidence that make up Angelo Sraffa's cultural legacy, the volumes of his personal library provide a vivid image of his relations with the Italian literary and intellectual world of the early 20th century. The hand-written dedications on many of these works reveal a dense interweaving of friendships, exchanges and acquaintances. One of the most documented relationships was with Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, contributor to important magazines and university professor. The five dedications found — including those in the book La città sconosciuta (1924) and Le belle (1927) — evoke an affectionate ease that dates back to his years in Milan, before the writer's departure for the United States in 1931. Even Borgese's wife, Maria Freschi — author of the novel La contessa Lara —affectionately addresses Sraffa, a sign of a family relationship rather than a professional one. A dedication by Margherita Sarfatti, journalist, art critic, intellectual and influential figure in Italian culture between World Wars I and II, addresses Sraffa as an "impeccable reader and bibliophile" in Il palazzone (1929). Their affinity probably stems from a common social and cultural background: both belonged to the bourgeois Jewish elite of Northern Italy. Another dedication in the book Cose viste testifies to the friendship between Sraffa and Ugo Ojetti. Both Ojetti and Sraffa were on the Board of the Treccani Institute, a place of cultural development and a national project.

This panorama is completed by dedications by other leading players of Italian culture of the time: from the philologist Ettore Bignone, to the realist Bruno Cicognani, as well as figures such as Alfredo Panzini, Marino Moretti, Ettore Romagnoli, Mario Fubini and Giusto Calvi. In the case of Raffaello Piccoli, the dedication is also addressed to Piero Sraffa, Angelo's son, testifying to the family continuity of intellectual ties.