Viaggio nell'antico: Winckelmann e la “questione di Napoli"

J.J. Winckelmann visited four times the Reign of Naples. Which motivation did push him to these travels? Of course his interest for the discovery of Ercolano and Pompei sites; but not only! As he confessed to his closest friends, he was pushed by his desire of fame and glory, his secret wish to become a member of the Ercolanese Academia. The welcome of the court was disappointing indeed, the relationships with the Partenopei intellectuals were difficult. Also the impact with the city was not happy at the beginning. Nevertheless from the reading of his letters we see that Winckelmann later changed his first negative judgements. The reign of Naples with the vesuvian discoveries, the traces of the Magna Greece and Sicily let him acquire that science he poured in his most famous works. This essay analyses the origins of this relationship through the fresh examination of the epistolary. It collects private letters in which Winckelmann expresses his mind in all sincerity. Letters combine the scientific reflection and the projects of life in the “Neapolitan issue”.