Report of the event “Silvio Benco. An International Outlook Beyond Trieste”
On Tuesday 25 November, at the Antico Caffè San Marco, the conference “Silvio Benco. An International Outlook Beyond Trieste” was held, organised by the Manlio Cecovini Study Society. The event, introduced by Luca Manenti, featured contributions from Roberto Spazzali and Daniela Picamus, who offered two complementary perspectives on the Triestine writer and intellectual.
Spazzali opened the evening by focusing on a lesser-known aspect of Benco’s work: his interest in global geopolitical balances at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In an age often remembered as the Belle Époque, Benco instead perceived the signs of a world undergoing rapid change, marked by a series of international crises that shifted the political centre of gravity from Europe towards the Pacific. The Russo-Japanese War, the role of the United States in the Philippines, and the Portsmouth Peace mediated by Theodore Roosevelt appeared to him as clues to a new world order, in which Europe would gradually lose its cultural and political pre-eminence. Benco observed these events with remarkable foresight, pondering the consequences of Russia’s defeat, the imperial ambitions of Japan and the United States, and the fragility of a continent seemingly unable to grasp the transformations underway.
Benco’s perspective on the world was not that of a detached chronicler, but of an intellectual acutely aware of the cultural magnitude of major historical ruptures. In his reflections, the Pacific crisis and the emergence of new imperialisms were not merely military events: they represented an anthropological turning point, an encounter—and at times a clash—between civilisations. The very idea of peace, still dependent on the decisions of individual leaders and lacking supranational bodies, appeared to him a key theme for understanding the world taking shape. His analysis, strikingly relevant today, anticipated questions that would erupt in the First World War and then definitively in the Second.
In the second part of the event, Picamus shifted attention to the literary side of Benco’s work, highlighting his deep curiosity for foreign literatures and his linguistic competence—self-taught and cultivated throughout his life. She particularly reconstructed his relationship with Goethe, to whom Benco devoted a series of translations and numerous articles: from Wilhelm Meister to Elective Affinities, up to Egmont, published in 1944. Through her consultation of the Benco Archive, Picamus showed that these translations were not mere linguistic exercises but genuine critical interpretations, accompanied by philological notes, historical contextualisations, and reflections on the relationship between the original text and its Italian rendering.
The reconstruction of the editorial history also revealed Benco’s dense dialogue with key figures in Italian German studies, such as Giuseppe Antonio Borgese and Lavinia Mazzucchetti, and the ways in which these collaborations influenced the publication of his translations. In particular, the edition of Egmont demonstrated the complexity of his relationship with Mazzucchetti, who intervened as editor and ultimately altered notes and introduction, bringing to light delicate intellectual and editorial dynamics. Despite this, Benco’s translational framework remained faithful to his own rigorous principles: to convey the author’s voice without distortion, with minimal intervention in punctuation and constant attention to the rhythm and structure of the German text.
The concluding discussion also explored Benco’s relationship with the city of Trieste, his cultural influence, and his ability to address a broad readership thanks to the foreign affairs pages of Il Piccolo della Sera, which for decades maintained a first-rate standard of international analysis. Thus emerged the figure of an intellectual capable of combining local depth with global openness, of reading the world and interpreting it—an approach that, in the post-war period, found a remarkable synthesis in In contemplazione del disordine, regarded by many as his true cultural testament.
The conference offered a rich and multifaceted portrait of Benco: an author who, though deeply rooted in his city, was able to look beyond geographical and cultural borders, anticipating themes and concerns that would shape the entire twentieth century. A valuable opportunity to rediscover a major figure in Trieste’s intellectual history and to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of his outlook on the world.
WATCH THE GALLERY
Spazzali opened the evening by focusing on a lesser-known aspect of Benco’s work: his interest in global geopolitical balances at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In an age often remembered as the Belle Époque, Benco instead perceived the signs of a world undergoing rapid change, marked by a series of international crises that shifted the political centre of gravity from Europe towards the Pacific. The Russo-Japanese War, the role of the United States in the Philippines, and the Portsmouth Peace mediated by Theodore Roosevelt appeared to him as clues to a new world order, in which Europe would gradually lose its cultural and political pre-eminence. Benco observed these events with remarkable foresight, pondering the consequences of Russia’s defeat, the imperial ambitions of Japan and the United States, and the fragility of a continent seemingly unable to grasp the transformations underway.
Benco’s perspective on the world was not that of a detached chronicler, but of an intellectual acutely aware of the cultural magnitude of major historical ruptures. In his reflections, the Pacific crisis and the emergence of new imperialisms were not merely military events: they represented an anthropological turning point, an encounter—and at times a clash—between civilisations. The very idea of peace, still dependent on the decisions of individual leaders and lacking supranational bodies, appeared to him a key theme for understanding the world taking shape. His analysis, strikingly relevant today, anticipated questions that would erupt in the First World War and then definitively in the Second.
In the second part of the event, Picamus shifted attention to the literary side of Benco’s work, highlighting his deep curiosity for foreign literatures and his linguistic competence—self-taught and cultivated throughout his life. She particularly reconstructed his relationship with Goethe, to whom Benco devoted a series of translations and numerous articles: from Wilhelm Meister to Elective Affinities, up to Egmont, published in 1944. Through her consultation of the Benco Archive, Picamus showed that these translations were not mere linguistic exercises but genuine critical interpretations, accompanied by philological notes, historical contextualisations, and reflections on the relationship between the original text and its Italian rendering.
The reconstruction of the editorial history also revealed Benco’s dense dialogue with key figures in Italian German studies, such as Giuseppe Antonio Borgese and Lavinia Mazzucchetti, and the ways in which these collaborations influenced the publication of his translations. In particular, the edition of Egmont demonstrated the complexity of his relationship with Mazzucchetti, who intervened as editor and ultimately altered notes and introduction, bringing to light delicate intellectual and editorial dynamics. Despite this, Benco’s translational framework remained faithful to his own rigorous principles: to convey the author’s voice without distortion, with minimal intervention in punctuation and constant attention to the rhythm and structure of the German text.
The concluding discussion also explored Benco’s relationship with the city of Trieste, his cultural influence, and his ability to address a broad readership thanks to the foreign affairs pages of Il Piccolo della Sera, which for decades maintained a first-rate standard of international analysis. Thus emerged the figure of an intellectual capable of combining local depth with global openness, of reading the world and interpreting it—an approach that, in the post-war period, found a remarkable synthesis in In contemplazione del disordine, regarded by many as his true cultural testament.
The conference offered a rich and multifaceted portrait of Benco: an author who, though deeply rooted in his city, was able to look beyond geographical and cultural borders, anticipating themes and concerns that would shape the entire twentieth century. A valuable opportunity to rediscover a major figure in Trieste’s intellectual history and to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of his outlook on the world.
WATCH THE GALLERY
