“Il Principe di Machiavelli: A Book for all Seasons?”

As part of the European Book Club 2020 series, the Istituto Italiano will host a discussion with Professor Franco Gallippi on the book “Il Principe” by Niccolò Machiavelli.

Thursday, March 19 | 6:30pm
Istituto Italiano di Cultura
496 Huron Street

Niccolò Machiavelli’s Il Principe (The Prince) is one of the most famous and infamous books ever written. Praised also for its prose, The Prince is mostly quoted for the “uncomfortable” ideas conveyed through its matter-of-fact language. In what way are these ideas still relevant in the third millennium? Or, does The Prince emerge from a political context that has little to do with our own, and should be read and applied with caution?

A Q&A will follow the viewing of a clip from a documentary.

Franco Gallippi studied at the University of Florence, L’Aquila, and Venice, and later completed his PhD thesis, “Calvino: Reader of Leopardi and Galileo”, at the University of Toronto. He was Assistant Professor of Italian literature and cinema at McMaster University in Hamilton for four years. He teaches at the Italian Cultural Institute in Toronto, and is a public lecturer at Hot Docs and several continuing education associations based in Toronto. His publications on Italian literature and cinema are available on the following website:

https://mcmaster.academia.edu/FrancoGallippi