SOURCE: Barthouil, Georges. “Asia in the Work of Leopardi.” Journal of European Studies 29, no. 1 (March 1999): 55-60.

In the following essay, Barthouil examines the Zibaldone's many references to distant lands, particularly in Asia, despite the fact that Leopardi never traveled outside Italy.

Leopardi was not a great traveller. In fact he imagined his foreign travels, and it was only his hatred for Recanati that led him to stay elsewhere in Italy. For him, Recanati was a prison from which he wanted to escape. However, escaping from a prison is not the same as giving in to the temptation of travel. He did not feel particularly drawn to it; neither did he feel any powerful sense of curiosity. In this respect, and indeed in many others, he was very similar to Vigny, his contemporary, who felt that foreign travel was simply useless, since one had to transport oneself along...