Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.
SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI. – Founded in Rome in 1889 on the initiative of Giacomo Venezian.
“It aims to safeguard and spread the Italian language and culture throughout the world, maintaining everywhere the sentiment of Italian identity, rekindling the spiritual bonds of compatriots abroad with their mother country, and fostering among foreigners love for and devotion to Italian civilization” (art. 1 of the society’s Statutes). It achieves these aims through its committees abroad, which are responsible for organizing schools, language and culture courses, lectures, concerts, and art exhibitions,
(courtesy of the Soc. Dante Alighieri) SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI — Founding Manifesto, Rome, July 1889.Before the war of 1915–18, the «Dante» carried out, among other activities, an intensive campaign in favor of the liberation of the Italian lands, particularly effective during the years when the government could not officially work for the Italian character of Tridentine and Julian territories, given its alliance with Austria. Also dating from that period were assistance to emigrants, in which the s. wrote pages of great distinction, as well as the establishment of many Italian schools abroad, especially in North Africa and Latin America. Gravely damaged by the Second World War, the «Dante» is today undergoing a marked revival, despite the failure to reopen its committees in several countries.
BIBL.: P. Barbera, La D. A.: relaz. storica, Rome 1919; G. F. Guerrazzi, Ricordi di irredentismo, Bologna 1922; La S. Naz. D. A.: 1888-1939, Rome 1939; M. Galifi, La D. A., there 1951. See also the Notiziari published periodically by the presidency and those appearing in various journals (Nuova Antol., Idea, Italiani nel mondo, etc.), as well as the Atti of the annual congresses (cf. La D. A. dopo guerra, in Docum. di vita ital., 3 [1953], pp. 1233–36).
Cite this article
“SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI (1953), p. 513. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/societa-dante-alighieri.
