Elvira Gandini (Giuseppe Antonio Borgese) Archive

The collection comprises original typescripts of lecture notes from Aesthetics courses taught by Professor Giuseppe Antonio Borgese at the University of Milan between 1927 and 1931. Borgese was a key figure in early 20th-century Italian intellectual life, active as a writer, literary critic, and scholar of Aesthetics. He taught the subject in Milan several times, with the chair later held by Antonio Banfi during Borgese’s years in the United States. The lecture notes belonged to Elvira Gandini (Milan, 1908–2005), a close friend of Antonia Pozzi and teacher of Fulvio Papi.

Archive History

(by Alessandra Severgnini)

Elvira Gandini attended, together with the Milanese poet Antonia Pozzi, the final course taught in Italy by Professor Borgese, before he left for America following his refusal to swear allegiance to the Fascist regime.

After Gandini’s death, her children—Cesarina, Filippo and Virgilio Carati—discovered the lecture notes and, through Professor Graziella Bernabò, established contact with Professor Gabriele Scaramuzza at the University of Milan. The Carati family had met Professor Bernabò when she published her book Per troppa vita che ho nel sangue. Antonia Pozzi e la sua poesia, a biography of the Milanese poet that Gandini herself had reviewed. On that occasion, Bernabò learned of the Borgese lecture notes and encouraged their donation to the University.

The collection has been fully digitised to preserve the fragile paper materials, enhance accessibility, and support research. The analogue documents have been converted to digital format and saved to DVD. The digitised version also includes a number of handwritten notes by Dr Gandini, discovered between the pages of the typescripts.

The digital archive is freely accessible for consultation at the holding institution.

Archive Contents

The collection consists of seven typescripts from the four Aesthetics courses taught by Professor Giuseppe Antonio Borgese at the University of Milan during the academic years 1927–1931. Each course is structured into Tuesday lectures, Wednesday lectures, and Thursday tutorials.

The Library does not hold a complete set of lecture notes but only those that belonged to Elvira Gandini, who donated the archive and attended Borgese’s classes. All the notes are typewritten and include handwritten annotations and marginalia by Gandini.

The following is the catalogue entry:

• Lectures on Aesthetics: 1927–1928 / G. A. Borgese; [compiled] by G. Tagliabue. – Milan: Capra Lithography, [after 1927]. – 196 pp.; 25 cm. Title: “Dal neoclassico al romantico: lezioni del martedì”.

  Inventory no.: 179 23996
  Shelfmark: 3L. EG. 01
  Note: 1 volume; with incomplete content between pages 81 and 96; available in digital format for consultation.

• On French Romanticism in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries: [1927–1928]: Wednesday Lectures / G. A. Borgese. – [Place of publication not identified, publisher not identified, after 1927]. – 138 pp.; 25 cm.

  Inventory no.: 179 23999.
  Shelfmark: 3L. EG. 02.
  Note: 1 volume; title page missing; available in digital format for consultation.

• Lectures on Aesthetics: Positions on Croce, Positions on Manzoni: 1929–1930 (Year 8) / delivered by G. A. Borgese; compiled by M. Gorra. – Milan: Mariani Press, [after 1929]. – 199 pp.; 25 cm. Title page heading: Regia Università di Milano, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.

  Inventory no.: 179 24000
  Shelfmark: 3L. EG. 03
  Note: 1 volume; available in digital format for consultation.

• Lectures on Aesthetics: Poetic Arts: 1929–1930 (Year 8) / delivered by G. A. Borgese; compiled by M. Gorra. – Milan: Mariani Press, [after 1929]. – 144 pp.; 25 cm. Title page heading: Regia Università di Milano, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.

  Inventory no.: 179 24001
  Shelfmark: 3L. EG. 04
  Note: 1 volume; available in digital format for consultation.

• Lectures on Aesthetics: Outline of the History of Criticism: 1930–1931 (Year 9) / delivered by G. A. Borgese; compiled by S. Spellanzon. – Pavia; Milan: Bruni-Marelli, [after 1931]. – 442 pp.; 25 cm. Title page heading: Regia Università di Milano.

  Inventory no.: 179 24026
  Shelfmark: 3L. EG. 05
  Note: 1 volume; available in digital format for consultation.

• Wednesday Lectures: [1930–31] / G. A. Borgese. – [Place of publication not identified, publisher not identified, 19..]. – 148 pp.; 25 cm.

  Inventory no.: 179 23691
  Shelfmark: 3L. EG. 06
  Note: 1 volume; title page missing; available in digital format for consultation.

• [Tutorials: 1930–1931: lecture notes compiled by G. A. Borgese]. – [Place of publication not identified, publisher not identified, after 1930]. – 189 pp.; 25 cm.

  Contents: Laura Badoni Rainer Maria Rilke; Alfredo Puerari Correnti del teatro simbolista francese; Lucia Bozzi Aspetti dell’estetica tedesca negli ultimi trent’anni; Livia Camerini L’espressionismo tedesco; Maria Luisa Gengaro Il futurismo e movimenti analoghi; Rosa Del Conte Renato Serra e la seconda voce.
  Inventory no.: 179 24029
  Shelfmark: 3L. EG. 07
  Note: 1 volume; with incomplete content between pages 1 and 56; title page missing; available in digital format for consultation.

Biography of Giuseppe Antonio Borgese

(by Michela Ferri)

Giuseppe Antonio Borgese was born in Polizzi Generosa on 12 November 1882 and died in Fiesole on 4 December 1952.

He began his university studies in 1900 at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Palermo, transferring the following academic year to the Istituto di Studi Superiori in Florence, where he studied under Girolamo Vitelli and Pio Rajna. He graduated in 1903 with a dissertation entitled Storia della critica romantica in Italia, which was published in 1905 in Naples by Benedetto Croce in the Edizioni della Critica series.

Borgese was the first person in Italy to be awarded a university chair at the age of 27. He began his academic career teaching History of German Literature at the University of Turin in the 1909/10 academic year, before moving to the University of Rome for 1910/11. In 1917/18, he transferred to the Accademia di Scienze e Lettere in Milan – a position he specifically requested – where he continued to teach the same subject.

Thanks to the intervention of Piero Martinetti, Borgese became Professor of Aesthetics and the History of Criticism in 1926/27. The chair in German Literature was passed on to Vincenzo Errante. Until then, the University of Milan had not had a Chair in Aesthetics and the History of Criticism, which was established a year later than originally planned due to the initial rejection of the proposal. In 1925/26, the philosophy faculty included Giuseppe Zuccante (History of Philosophy) and Piero Martinetti (Philosophy). Borgese’s chair was added the following year.

Borgese’s final course before departing for the United States took place in the 1930/31 academic year. In 1931, motivated in part by a desire to avoid swearing an oath of loyalty to fascism—then mandatory for university staff—and following fascist threats and attacks against him and his students, he decided to leave Italy “for reasons outside the university.” Antonio Banfi was appointed acting professor of Aesthetics in his absence.

In July 1931, Borgese embarked for the United States, where he was first appointed Professor of the History of Criticism and Aesthetics at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1932 to 1936, he taught Comparative and Italian Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and from 1936 to 1948 held the Chair in the History of Italian Literature at the University of Chicago.

While in the US, Borgese became close friends with Thomas Mann and fell in love with his daughter Elisabeth. He divorced his first wife, the writer and poet Maria Freschi—with whom he had two children, Leonardo and Giovanna—so that he could marry Elisabeth.

He returned to Italy in 1949, initially without a university position. He described this return as one of “isolation.” He resumed teaching at the University of Milan the following academic year. After his death, the Chair in Aesthetics passed to Guido Morpurgo Tagliabue, who held it from 1952 to 1965.

With the establishment of the Chair in Aesthetics and the History of Criticism at the University of Milan in 1926, Borgese moved from the field of Modern Philology to Philosophy. That same year, he wrote Figurazione e trasfigurazione for the 6th National Philosophy Congress, held in March and chaired by Piero Martinetti. The essay was later published in the weekly La Fiera Letteraria in May 1926.

Biography of Elvira Gandini

(by Alessandra Severgnini)

The teaching materials donated to the Philosophy Library belonged to Elvira Gandini (Milan, 1908–2005), a friend of Antonia Pozzi and teacher of Fulvio Papi. Gandini attended, together with the Milanese poet, the final course taught by Giuseppe Antonio Borgese in Italy before his departure for the United States.

She attended secondary school at the Istituto Suore Orsoline in Milan and completed her classical studies at Liceo Manzoni. She graduated in Classics from the University of Milan in the 1930/31 academic year, with a dissertation on German Romanticism supervised by Professor Borgese.

During her studies, she travelled to Germany, where she collected material for her dissertation at the University of Munich and learnt German. Upon graduating, she immediately began teaching at the Istituto Suore Orsoline, a post she held until her marriage in 1937. That same year, she left teaching to focus on her family and her three children—Cesarina, Filippo, and Virgilio.

During the war, she lived in Valtellina, where she is thought to have made contact with the journalist Camilla Cederna.

In the post-war years, she returned to Milan and resumed teaching—first at Liceo Carducci, then at the Istituto Tecnico Feltrinelli.

At the same time, she also contributed to the training of nuns, teaching Greek and Latin to future teachers.

She shared with Antonia Pozzi a love of the mountains. This passion led her to a close friendship with the philosopher Gustavo Bontadini.

In 2004, she collaborated with Professor Graziella Bernabò on the publication of the book Per troppa vita che ho nel sangue. Antonia Pozzi e la sua poesia.

Literary Works of Giuseppe Antonio Borgese

(by Michela Ferri)

Borgese’s poetry is collected in La canzone paziente (Ricciardi, Milan 1910), Le Poesie (Mondadori, Milan 1922), and Poesie 1922–1952 (Mondadori, Milan 1952).

He wrote two novels: Rubè (Treves, Milan 1921) and I vivi e i morti (Treves, Milan 1923), as well as numerous short stories published in two volumes titled Le novelle (Mondadori, Milan 1950). Notable among these are La città sconosciuta (1925), Le belle (1927), Il sole non è tramontato (1929), Tempesta nel nulla (1931), Il pellegrino appassionato (1933), and La Siracusana (1950).

He also authored La tragedia di Mayerling (Treves, Milan 1925), an essay on the tragic suicide of Rudolf of Habsburg, Crown Prince of Austria.

For the stage, he wrote two plays: L’Arciduca (Treves, Milan 1924) and Lazzaro (Treves, Milan 1925).

His work as a journalist and political commentator is reflected in several publications, including La guerra delle idee (Treves, Milan 1916), L’Italia e la nuova alleanza (Treves, Milan 1937), and Goliath: the March of Fascism (The Viking Press, New York 1937).

Among his travel books are Autunno a Costantinopoli (Treves, Milan 1929), Giro lungo per la primavera (Bompiani, Milan 1930), Escursioni in terre nuove (Ceschina, Milan 1931), and Atlante americano (Guanda, Parma 1936).