Il giardino, il vento, il cuore. Manzoni e Bassani

In this paper I propose a first investigation about the influence of Manzoni’s model in the works of Giorgio Bassani. This is a very important model for him, as evidenced by the many references to Manzoni in the Ferrarese author’s essays and the various intertextual links that can be perceived in his poetic compositions and in his narrative proses. Bassani is one of the authors of the second half of the twentieth century who have taken more inspiration from Manzoni to renovate Italian narrative. In this paper I want to analyze above all the citations-allusions of The Betrothed in The Garden of Finzi-Continis. This intertextual analysis is preceded by a study of the essay texts of Bassani and in his interviews that help to better undestarnd the years 1955-1958 in the cultural itinerary of this author to validate the links found between the Manzoni masterpiece and the novel of Finzi-Contini.