Concetto Marchesi (Catania 1878 – Rome 1957) was a distinguished Latinist, deeply involved in both cultural and political spheres. He joined the Italian Socialist Party early on (1893) before later becoming a prominent member of the Italian Communist Party (1921). After a period of teaching in secondary schools, he became Professor of Latin Language and Literature at the Universities of Messina, Pisa, and finally Padua, where he remained for thirty years (1923–1953), also serving briefly as Rector in 1943. In 1931, he pledged allegiance to Fascism, as it was required of Professors under penalty of expulsion from the university. In 1935, Marchesi reaffirmed his commitment upon becoming a member of the Lincei Academy, and he swore allegiance a third time in 1939, when he joined Italy’s Academy. That same year, he also signed up for the National Fascist Party. After the war, he served as a member of the Constituent Assembly (1946–1948), participating in the drafting of the Italian Constitution. Subsequently, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (1948–1957), representing the Italian Communist Party.

Marchesi’s scholarly works include studies on Helvius Cinna (Marchesi 1898), the medieval Latin translation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Marchesi 1904), Phaedrus and the Latin fable (Marchesi 1923), Seneca (Marchesi 1920), Tacitus (Marchesi 1924), and his two-volume Storia della letteratura latina (History of Latin Literature) (Marchesi 1925–1927). Marchesi also produced several critical editions, such as those of Cicero’s Orator (1904), Seneca’s Thyestes (1908), Apuleius’ De magia (1914), Ovid’s Ars amatoria (1918), Arnobius’ Adversus nationes (1934), as well as translations and/or commentaries on other Latin works, including Prudentius’ Peristephanon (1917), Martial’s Epigrams (1920), Aesop’s fables (1930), Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae (1939), and Lucretius’ De rerum natura (1950).

Despite his commitment to the Communist Party and involvement in some antifascist initiatives, Marchesi remained politically inactive in Padua for almost twenty years, from 1924 to 1943. During this period under Mussolini’s regime, he occasionally collaborated with the Fascist rector of the University of Padua, Carlo Anti (1889–1961). As part of the university’s renovation works, Anti commissioned Marchesi to compose several Latin inscriptions, some of which had an explicitly Fascist tone and are still visible on the university walls, particularly at Palazzo Bo. In the case of a ceremonial banner gifted by the University of Padua to the newly founded University of Trieste, Anti also requested that Marchesi compose the Latin text, which clearly reflects Fascist propaganda rhetoric. Among Marchesi’s papers, other brief Latin texts have been discovered, mainly funerary epigraphs for his friends (Franceschini 1978: 352–66).

Bibliography 

Latin texts

Franceschini, Ezio. 1978. ‘Marchesi epigrafista’. In Concetto Marchesi. Linee per l’interpretazione di un uomo inquieto, 352–66. Padova: Antenore.

Scholarly Works (selection)

Marchesi, Concetto. 1898. La vita e le opere di C. Elvio Cinna. Catania: Niccolò Giannotta Edit.

———. 1904. L’Etica Nicomachea nella tradizione latina Medievale (Documenti e appunti). Messina: Tirimarchi.

———. 1920. Seneca. Messina: Principato.

———. 1923. Fedro e la favola latina. Firenze: Vallecchi.

———. 1924. Tacito. Messina-Roma: Principato.

———. 1925-27. Storia della letteratura latina, 2 vols, Messina-Roma: Principato.

Secondary literature

Canfora, Luciano. 1985. La sentenza. Concetto Marchesi e Giovanni Gentile. Palermo: Sellerio.

———. 2007. ‘Marchesi, Concetto’. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 69. Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Treccani, 587–591.

———. 2019. Il sovversivo. Concetto Marchesi e il comunismo italiano. Bari-Roma: Laterza.

Franceschini, Ezio. 1978. Concetto Marchesi. Linee per l’interpretazione di un uomo inquieto. Padova: Antenore.

La Penna, Antonio. 1980. Concetto Marchesi. La critica letteraria come scoperta dell'uomo. Con un saggio su Tommaso Fiore. Firenze: La Nuova Italia.

Timpanaro, Sebastiano. 1980. Il Marchesi di Antonio La Penna. Firenze: Olschki.

Lorenzo Di Simone