Rileggendo il De Sanctis di Francesco Torraca (1917)

The essay offers a new version of the commemorative speech that Professor Francesco Torraca delivered at Naples University in 1917, commemorating his teacher Francesco De Sanctis, on the first centenary of his birth. The text is preceded by an introduction. Torraca’s speech, published in the year of delivery, and subsequently in 1928, is still attractive to the reader on account of the strength of its eloquent rhetoric, aiming bringing the figure of De Sanctis to life. Moreover, being delivered in war time, the speech widens its meaning through the epic exemplarity of the distinguished man’s life, a model of ethic and civic engagement for the young scholars or the “scuola sottufficiali” pupils present at the commemoration