Sulle condizioni etnografiche dell’Europa. Vicende di una conferenza tenuta da Ascoli a Gorizia nel 1861 e non pubblicata

Abstract

The eve of Ascoli’s move from Gorizia to Milan where he was to teach at the Accademia scientifico-letteraria was the setting for the conference Sulle condizioni etnografiche dell’Europa held in Gorizia in an event that had great resonance in his city both because of the authoritativeness of the speaker and because his words fell during a period of great nationalist ferment.  Ascoli confirms his idea of peaceful coexistence within the Habsburg monarchy under the banner of the request for greater spaces of freedom but without encouraging separatist thrusts; looking then at the development of Ascoli’s linguistic thought, one can discern the first signs of that broad European vision prefiguring the positions that would be fully manifested in the season of the Proemio.