Benedetto Croce e la fondazione dell’Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici

This text aims to combine interests and inputs deriving from my experience at the Istituto italiano
per gli studi storici in Naples. The paper is designed not so much to increase the reader’s knowledge of the “objective” history of the Institute, as to define – from specific perspectives – the various stages of a cultural itinerary made up of impressions and influences, including emotional ones, that enriched and often mingled with intellectual reflection. The main topic is the history of the intellectual roots and development of the Istituto italiano per gli studi storici as we know it today. The paper explores several issues: the problem of anti-academicism, the relationship between Croce and young people, historicism, the connection between philosophy and philology, and moral progress in history. The purpose is to identify in Croce’s original project – and in its controversial implementation – the conditions that allow us to outline the development of the activities of the Institute and the continuation of its work in view of future challenges.