Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti
The Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti ( Enciclopedia Italiana or Enciclopedia Treccani for short ) is a multi-volume universal encyclopedia in Italian . The first edition, consisting of 35 text volumes and an index volume, was published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana between 1929 and 1937 . This publishing house, founded by Giovanni Treccani in 1925 , is also the editor of the national biography Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani .
Publication history
In 1924, some friends suggested that the entrepreneur and patron Giovanni Treccani publish an encyclopedia in Italian. Treccani immediately thought of a great universal encyclopedia and founded the institute mentioned on February 18, 1925 in Rome for this purpose. Giovanni Gentile took over the scientific management and was able to win over 3,200 scientific employees from various disciplines for the project, including many Jews and anti-fascists . The preparatory phase lasted from 1925 to 1928. A so-called “technical committee” was created, consisting of the heads of 48 working groups, which ultimately provided a reference work with 60,000 main articles and 240,000 secondary articles. The 35 text volumes of the first edition each had around 1,000 pages. This first edition, published between 1929 and 1937, was a sales success.
Work on the work went largely without interference from the fascist regime until the 1930s . It was only after Benito Mussolini had consolidated his power that attempts were made to use the Enciclopedia for propaganda purposes. So Gentile tried - on behalf of the Duce - to formulate the principles of fascism in the Dottrina del Fascismo .
Between 1935 and 1943, some subject areas received their own special volumes. The first volume deals with fascism. Benito Mussolini was given as the author, in fact Giovanni Gentile and Gioacchino Volpe were the authors. The first supplementary volume was published in 1938, which was followed by eight more, usually multi-volume supplements by 2015 after the Second World War . The Enciclopedia Italiana comprises a total of 72 volumes.
The encyclopedia has been available online as Enciclopedia Treccani free of charge since 2015 .
