Treccani celebrates 100 years of knowing, from paper to web

The celebrations will be an opportunity not only to celebrate the famous Treccani encyclopedia, present on the shelves of the bookcases of the houses of tens of thousands of Italians, but also to illustrate the new ways in which knowledge today is catalog and made available with the works consultation.

President Mattarella will also be presented in preview one of the novelties prepared for the anniversary, “Treccani Cento”, the new appendix of the Italian Encyclopedia, the XI, entrusted to the scientific direction of President Ossola and the general manager Bray, who renews and relaunches the Project behind the previous update (2020), proposing “an overall reconsideration of encyclopedic knowledge, conceived as rigorous architecture in his Structure and in the internal logic but properly flexible to grasp even more elusive and centrifugal realities “. Furthermore, Mattarella will be able to preview the exposure set up to tell a century of Treccani.

Founded on February 18, 1925 thanks to the initiative of the textile entrepreneur, mecenate and publisher Giovanni Treccani of the Alfieri and the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, the institute of the Italian Encyclopedia Treccani was born with the mission of creating, updating, publishing and disseminating the encyclopedia Italian of sciences, letters and arts.

The Italian Encyclopedia of Sciences, Letters and Arts was published, in its 35 volumes of text, from 1929 to 1937; An appendix followed in 1938 and in 1939 the indices. Despite the historical period, he made use of anti -fascist editors and collaborators and university teachers who in 1931 had refused the oath: Gaetano De Sanctis, Guido Calogero, Bruno Migliorini, Rodolfo Mondolfo, Ugo La Malfa, Nello Rosselli and many others. In 1948 he started the project of the Italian encyclopedic dictionary, synthesis of vocabulary and encyclopedia published in 12 volumes between 1955 and 1961, to which he joined, between 1958 and 1966, the first Treccani thematic work, the encyclopedia of Classical and Eastern ancient art.

A turning point in editorial production then represented the encyclopedia of the twentieth century (1975-90), divided into 522 essays, which saw the collaboration of 21 Nobel prizes. To the same will to mediate between the needs of scientific and cultural deepening and vocation to synthesis and high dissemination, works such as frontiers of life (4 volumes, 1998-99), 21st century (6 volumes, 2009-10) or encyclopedias are attributable. Dedicated to the great classics of Italian and European literature and culture: Dante. Dante Encyclopedia (6 volumes 1970-78, second edition 1984), Virgil. Virgilian encyclopedia (5 volumes, 1984-91), Horace. Orazian encyclopedia (3 volumes, 1996-98), Machiavelli. Encyclopedia Macchiavelianian (3 volumes, 2014). Of considerable importance, starting from the 2000s, the publication of valuable books is also the publication, which include both art volumes – in particular those dedicated to cities, archaeological sites, Italian museums: Pompeii (2003), Venice (2004 ), Florence (2007), Palermo (2008), Bologna (2008), Rome – Vatican Museums (2 vols., 2010), Turin (2010), Matera (2019) etc. -, both facsimile reproductions of miniator codes: the Psalter of St. Albans (2007), La Tavola Ritonda (2009), The Depittic Anatomy (2010), The Holkham Misc manuscript. 48 (2021).

Among the editorial projects published in recent years, with the desire to reaffirm the role of the Institute as a reference point in the world of culture, works such as the Treccani dei Boys (10 volumes, 2020), guide for the new generations to understanding must be mentioned of the world and the use of the web as a filter of reality, the encyclopedia of contemporary art (4 volumes, 2021), the first internationally dedicated to movements, artistic trends And to the protagonists from 1900 to the present day, the Qualivita Atlas, dedicated to the Italian agri -food and winery products, PGI and STG, the two annual, geopolitical atlas and book of the year, and the necklaces of books echoes, visions, voices, voices, Available in the bookstore.

The most recent history of the Institute is characterized by the transition to digital with a website that has quickly established itself as an essential point of reference for online cultural and linguistic research.