The Etruscans and Italian culture: from the ‘Good King’ to the Einaudi presidency

Revisiting the debate initiated on the occasion of the exhibition Etruschi del Novecento (2025), Fondazione Luigi Rovati hosts a conversation between Etruscologists Maurizio Harari, Stefano Bruni and Giulio Paolucci, exploring the reception and influence of Etruscan imagery in Italian culture from the late nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century.

Taking Stefano Bruni’s book Gli Etruschi e la cultura italiana dal Re Buono alla presidenza Einaudi - The Etruscans and Italian Culture: From the “Good King” to the Einaudi Presidency (Edizioni ETS) as its starting point, the discussion examines the cultural and ideological significance acquired over the course of the century by themes that might appear merely scholarly or elitist. The conversation will focus on several emblematic Etruscan icons, including the Chimera, a figure that remains strikingly relevant today in its irreducible otherness.