Interno Croce. Sulle Conversazioni di Giovanni Castellano, di Rosalia Peluso

The article reconstructs the main lines of the emotional and intellectual relationship between Benedetto Croce and who has been variously defined as his secretary or archivist, Giovanni Castellano. A divulger, apologist and anthologist of Croce, Castellano remained at the philosopher’s side between 1908 and 1928. He left because of his disagreement with the philosopher’s antifascist choice and took refuge in Switzerland, where he continued the arrangement of an unusual document that he called Conversazioni col Croce e con me stesso, which are notes for a history of culture and customs at the beginning of the twentieth century. This diary is composed of excerpts of letters, notes and transcriptions of conversations between Croce and the many people who frequented his house. Here we try to take stock of the critical uses that have been made so far of the Conservazioni, still unpublished and kept in the Kantonsbibliotek Vadiana in St. Gallen. We also try to clarify the real historical and cultural nature of this document born from the pen of someone who, by his detractors, has been called the “Eckermann of Croce” and who more likely was to Croce as Wagner to Faust or as a reversed Melvillian Bartleby.