On September 27, 2022, the Institute of European Studies of the University of California, Berkeley hosted a talk by an Italian academic, Professor Amedeo Arena, on the correspondence between the Neapolitan Enlightenment philosopher Gaetano Filangieri and the US founding father Benjamin Franklin.
Anna Maria Di Giorgio, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco, also present at the talk at UC Berkeley, has announced that the Institute is hosting a temporary exhibition, curated by Professor Arena, with photographic reproductions of nine letters from the Filangieri-Franklin correspondence, plus an introductory panel that illustrates its content and current relevance: “I am very pleased that the Italian Cultural Institute can contribute – through a panel exhibition, hopefully the first piece of a larger puzzle – to increasing public awareness of the correspondence between Franklin and Filangieri and, possibly, to consolidating the relations and exchanges between Italy and the United States”.
The Consul General of Italy in San Francisco, Sergio Strozzi, who also took part in the talk at UC Berkeley, commented: “The talk on the correspondence between Filangieri and Franklin revealed the incredible modernity of the thought of Italian Enlightenment philosophers.”
Amedeo Arena, Professor of European Union Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Naples Federico II, commented: “The letters exchanged between the two philosophers took months to reach their destination, but they conveyed timeless ideals and had attachments that made history. Filangieri sent Franklin seven volumes of his work, The Science of Legislation, a monumental, yet unfinished, treatise on law reform as a means to achieve the happiness of humanity. Franklin sent Filangieri a copy of the Thirteen Constitutions of the United States of America and of the Federal Constitution of 1787, as a token of his appreciation for the ‘invaluable work’ of the Neapolitan philosopher.”
The Filangieri-Franklin Correspondence marked the starting point of a dialogue between Italians and Americans on certain shared values, which were examined in The Science of Legislation and are still relevant more than two centuries later.
The exhibition also received the patronage of the University of Naples Federico II, and that of three municipalities in Campania: Naples, where Filangieri initiated his correspondence with Franklin, Cava de’ Tirreni, where Filangieri moved to focus on La Scienza della Legazione, and Vico Equense where Filangieri spent his last years and met with several European intellectuals, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, at his residence in Castello Giusso.
The Mayor of Naples, Professor Gaetano Manfredi, declared: “This exhibition takes us on a journey through the history and the identity of two nations, Italy and the United States, bound by shared values of freedom and tolerance.
“The correspondence between Filangieri and Franklin demonstrates the importance of men of letters in spreading Enlightenment ideas that joined people across national boundaries in a common pursuit of constitutional governments that are fair, just, and inclusive” said Historical Society of Pennsylvania Librarian and CEO David R. Brigham.
“The importance of the correspondence between Filangieri and Franklin is for Italians, and in particular for Neapolitans, a source of pride and an incentive to strengthen the long-standing relations of friendship between Italy and United States,” said Paolo Jorio, Director of Museo Civico Filangieri.
“The exhibit concerns an underappreciated but important part of Franklin’s international connections and their influence on him, and through him, on the country he helped establish,” said American Philosophical Society Librarian Patrick Spero.
“The exhibit concerns an underappreciated but important part of Franklin’s international connections and their influence on him, and through him, on the country he helped establish,” said American Philosophical Society Librarian Patrick Spero.
The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) also sponsored the exhibition. Professor Antonio Giordano, president of the Sbarro Health Research Organization at Temple University, stated: “As an Italian who has directed a research center in Philadelphia for years, I can confirm that figures such as Filangieri, Beccaria, and Mazzei are extremely important to the Italian-American community. NIAF fully supports initiatives like this, which highlight the role of Italians in the making of our great American nation.”
