«Der Gardasee ist das Schönste der Welt». Das Italienbild in den literarischen Beiträgen des Boten vom Gardasee (1900-1914)

Der Bote vom Gardasee, the first italian newspaper in German language, was published in the Lake Garda area from 1900 to 1914. The present essay examines some of the most significant cultural and literary features published on the newspaper, in order to identify the peculiar traits of the Italienbild that they convey. The analysis of poems, travel memories and Landeskunde-texts is based on the four categories which traditionally found the Italiensehnsucht: nature, culture, art and folklore. Our purpose is therefore to understand if, and if so how, the image of Italy proposed from Der Bote vom Gardasee to the tourists who were sojourning on Lake Garda during the fifteen years before the first world war was conditioned from the stereotypes rooted in tradition, especially as a consequence of Goethe’s literary influence.