Benedetto Croce: Philosopher and Humanist of Modern Italy - The Atlantic
THE first occasion on which I heard of the existence of Benedetto Croce was not a very creditable one to my schoolteachers. It was in 1920. I was fifteen, and in my school in Rome no teacher had ever mentioned him. One day a school friend of mine told me, “You must read Croce; he is a better writer than Carducci, and more intelligent.” I had a great admiration for that friend, and followed his advice. I began to read Croce. The fact that I had been made to read him by a school friend and not by a teacher was not at all unusual. By 1920 Croce was a man of fifty-four, whose cultural leadership was widely acknowledged. But this recognition came more from students than from their professors. Croce himself, heir to a rich family from the old Kingdom of Naples, was not exactly in love with the academic world. He had left Rome University without taking a degree, and never wanted to become a professor. So it took some time before academic circles became used to considering him a professional a