Gibbon all’italiana: The Italian Restoration Edition of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Abstract

This article deals with the various forms of manipulation that the Italian edition of Gibbon's masterpiece demanded in the frame of Restoration Italy. The first edition of the Italian translation from Tuscany is considered too, in order to display how Italian translators and publishers succeed in the huge censorship examination. At the same moment, the article deals with the Catholic former response to Gibbon, in a comparison with the British reactions edited by Womersley. Finally, the Italian edition of Gibbon is focused in an enlarged outcast of the translation of history during the first decays of 19th century Italy.