Nello studio di Benedetto Croce. Prospettive di ricerca del Nachlass Giovanni Castellano di San Gallo

This paper examines the materials in the Croce-Castellano’s archive, which is part of the collection of the Vadiana Cantonal Library (St. Gallen). Castellano, who was Croce’s archivist, wrote an unpublished diary entitled Conversations with Croce and with myself. The text consists of thousands of pages, mostly typewritten but with numerous handwritten annotations, and is divided into two main parts, one covering the years 1906-1922 and the other 1922-1941. It is not only an intimate diary, but also a document in which Castellano records the correspondence of Croce, together with Croce’s and his own reflections, dialogues and interactions with other interlocutors of the Italian philosophical culture of the first half of the 20th century. Among the most important themes are some literary controversies and Croce’s position on the First World War and the rise of Fascism. This text, long neglected by the critics, may prove to be fundamental in integrating some elements of Croce’s biography and personality.