Come lavorava Croce? Le edizioni del ‘Cunto de li cunti’ tra prassi editoriale e convinzioni filologiche

From his high school years, Croce harboured a deep interest in Basile’s Lo 'Cunto de li cunti', which he regarded as the masterpiece of the Baroque era. His first attempt to publish an edition of the original Neapolitan text in 1891 met with very limited success, primarily due to the linguistic complexity of the text and the erudite nature of the apparatus. The failure of the 1891 edition led Croce to publish an Italian translation of Lo Cunto in 1925. This article examines the background, history, and material conditions of Croce’s work on Basile, highlighting the role this work played in the development of his philological views, from his rejection of critical apparatuses to his opposition to “scartafacci