Biography of Francesco de Sanctis

Handing down the story

28 March 1817
29 December 1883
Francesco Saverio de Sanctis was born at Morra Irpina, Avellino, on 28 March of 1817. As a boy expresses a great interest in the letters. Trained at the school of "last of the purists" Basilio Puoti, with its help from 1839 teaches in the military school of San Giovanni a Carbonara, a position that will leave in 1841 to go to teach in Naples of the Nunziatella military college (until 1848). In 1839, meanwhile, establishes a private school and assigned him to their students for training Puoti introductory to advanced courses: thus was born in Naples, the glorious "School of vico Bisi". In these years deepened the great enlightenment literature that shake him from the slumber of a purist-to Caesars and crystallizing the Italian language but constrained to Puoti-his 14th-century forms. Impressed in particular by the "aesthetics" of Hegel, takes therefore the distances from his master's positions and embraces the Hegelian idealism. In 1848 de Sanctis takes an active part the Neapolitans; After two years on the run was arrested by the Bourbons. In the three years or so in prison writes the "Torquato Tasso" and "prison". In 1853 is released and shipped to America.
In Malta, however, manages to leave the ship and starting to Turin, where he resumed teaching; in 1856 he moved to Zurich to accept a professorship that the Polytechnic offered him as a tribute to his popularity and authority. After the unit returned to Naples, he was elected Deputy and called from Cavour to serve as Minister of education. In dissent with the Government lines then goes into opposition and goes to direct the newspaper of the young left "Italy", which he founded together with Luigi Settembrini. In 1866 Francesco de Sanctis publishes volume of "critical essays". From 1868 to 1870 he devoted himself to the collection and reorganization of classes taught in Zurich, which will result in his literary masterpiece-historiography "Storia della letteratura italiana", as well as in "critical essay on Petrarch" (1869). In 1871 gets the Chair at the University of Naples. The following year he published "New critical essays", a sort of ideal continuation of the aforementioned "Storia della letteratura italiana".
In 1876 created the Circolo Filologico. With Government Cairoli back to directing public education from 1878 to 1871, in making provision in the battle against illiteracy and for the benefit of the capillarization of public schools. Abandons the task for health problems and spends his last years continuing his literary production. Francesco de Sanctis dies in Naples on 29 December 1883, at the age of 66 years. The distinguished literary critic, Francesco de Sanctis-who first introduced the aesthetic criticism in Italy-fits between the pillars of the historiography of Italian literature. His other works include: "An electoral trip", 1875; the autobiographical fragment about "youth", published in 1889, as well as posthumously is the publication of "The Italian literature of the nineteenth century" (1897). In 1937 his countrymen wanted to honor him by changing the name of the small native land, which from Morra Irpina became Morra de Sanctis.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.