Romanian Historian Nicolae Iorga: Cultural and Political Engagement and Relations with Italy

held by Stefano Santoro

The eleventh event in the lecture series promoted by the cultural association “Manlio Cecovini Study Society”, and the first of 2025, is scheduled for Tuesday, 21 January 2025, at 6:30 PM at the Antico Caffè San Marco in Trieste.

The event, presented by Stefano Santoro, will delve into the life and work of Nicolae Iorga, a prominent Romanian historian and politician. Active from the late 19th century to the early years of the Second World War, Iorga was a towering intellectual figure with a vast cultural background, producing an extraordinary body of both scholarly and literary works.

From the early 20th century, Iorga emerged as the leader of a traditionalist and nationalist political-cultural movement. He founded a party explicitly antisemitic in its orientation and was a vocal proponent of Romanian irredentism in regions under Austro-Hungarian rule. Later, he became a key figure in the interwar history of Romania.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Iorga deepened his connections with the European – and American – academic and political communities. His contributions to Italian-Romanian cultural relations were especially significant, including the establishment of Romania’s two major cultural institutions in Italy: the Romanian Academy in Rome and the Romanian Institute of Culture and Humanistic Research in Venice, both of which remain active today.

Politically, Iorga, who served as Prime Minister in the early 1930s, was both drawn to the allure of Fascist Italy and opposed to Romania’s far-right Legion of the Archangel Michael (commonly known as the Iron Guard), a Nazi-aligned, antisemitic faction. His opposition to the Iron Guard ultimately led to his assassination in 1940. Iorga’s legacy remains central to understanding Romania’s history during the first half of the 20th century, particularly its relations with Italy.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stefano Santoro is an Associate Professor of Eastern European History in the Department of Humanities at the University of Trieste and the scientific director of the journal Qualestoria.

His research focuses on various aspects of political and cultural history in modern times, with particular interest in Italian cultural diplomacy in Eastern Europe from the early 20th century to the postwar period, and nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe between the late 19th century and the interwar years, especially in Romania.

His publications include the books L’Italia e l’Europa orientale. Diplomazia culturale e propaganda 1918–1943 (Italy and Eastern Europe: Cultural Diplomacy and Propaganda 1918–1943, FrancoAngeli, 2005) and Dall’Impero asburgico alla Grande Romania. Il nazionalismo romeno di Transilvania fra Ottocento e Novecento (From the Habsburg Empire to Greater Romania: Romanian Nationalism in Transylvania between the 19th and 20th Centuries, FrancoAngeli, 2014). More recently, he co-edited L’ingiustizia militare nella Grande guerra. Le fucilazioni “per l’esempio” in Friuli e nella Venezia Giulia (Military Injustice during the Great War: Executions ‘as an Example’ in Friuli and Venezia Giulia, Forum, 2023) with Guido Crainz and Andrea Zannini, and Marco Dogo e i Balcani (Marco Dogo and the Balkans, Irsrec FVG, 2024) with Tullia Catalan.

For further information, please contact manliocecovini@studysociety.it.