the interview“Let me tell you about the Russian apocalypse”. Interview with the Russian philosopher Mikhail Epstein “My country is the anti-world that envies, hates and would like to swallow up the West. It is like a moon that stops reflecting the sun and decides to eclipse it. But if the West is proud of itself and stands up to it, it will force Moscow to abandon its expansionist ambitions.”byGiulio Meotti13 OCT 26
MAGAZINEIn praise of toil and conflict, which find their ideal home in the theatreIn the theatre, we laugh and we cry because it stems from the observation of human beings and is for human beings. For our frailties. Just as the Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues managed to do so splendidly and movingly in his production “Il coro degli amanti”, recently seen at the Piccolo TeatrobyDamiano Michieletto12 OCT 26
READING EXERCISES /20The future of the West: between unity and a crisis in internal relationsThe United States and Europe are divided, new players are taking centre stage on the world stage, and liberal institutions are struggling. Is the prophecy made a century ago coming true? A bit of history and a few ideas to ward off the decline foretold by Oswald SpenglerbySabino Cassese12 OCT 26
Sacred SongMedieval liturgy at the origins of Italian opera. An essayIn an essay recently published by Lim, "Dalla liturgia al palcoscenico," Giordano Farina and Maddalena Bonechi identify the origins of melodrama and opera in the medieval liturgical repertoire.byMattia Rossi10 OCT 26
THE BOOKHerzl’s “The Old New Land”, an antidote to hatred and a source of hopeAltneuland is being published in Italian for the first time under the title “Altneuland”. It is a description, in the finest detail, of the society that Herzl envisaged the Jews establishing in the land from which they originated, finally sheltered from the ravages of anti-Semitism that were increasingly plaguing Europe byNicoletta Tiliacos10 OCT 26
THE BOOKDavid Goudreault’s compelling voice in a bold and tragic novelIn "Bestie di mamma", Goudreault uses the page as a stage for the performance of a voice that is body – that is, dynamic matter that moves between the literary and the oral, slang and the canon, rap and literature, flow and densitybyMarco Archetti10 OCT 26
ODD FACESAlessandro Lavopa: “Every family has an extraordinary story in its past”“Every birth certificate is a time machine”. A conversation with the genealogist who has pieced together more than five hundred family histories. From archives to the descendants of emigrants, discovering one’s origins is a journey full of surprisesbyFrancesco Palmieri10 OCT 26
If the Nobel Prize is a utopiaAnne Carson’s “The Economy of the Unmissed” is listed in the catalogue of a tiny publishing houseThis is the story of ‘Utopia’, the publishing house that published one of the works by the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature winner in Italy. “We only publish books that aspire to stand the test of time,” says Gerardo Masuccio.byNicola Mirenzi9 OCT 26
Light-heartedness wantedThe challenging and selective verses of Anne Carson, winner of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureFor years now, her name has been listed among the potential winners, consistently among the favourites. In "Autobiografia del Rosso", she recounts in verse the story of Gerione on his first day at school. It is perfectly acceptable to choose one’s own readership; but it is also perfectly acceptable, after a while, for the aforementioned reader to lose patience.byMariarosa Mancuso8 OCT 26
Who will win?Live coverage of the announcement of the 2026 Nobel Prize in LiteratureAt 1 pm, the Swedish Academy will announce the winner. You can follow the announcement herebyRedazione8 OCT 26