An exceptionally rare nineteenth-century Greek commemorative publication documenting one of the earliest official tributes to Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827), the celebrated Greco-Italian poet, patriot, and one of the founding figures of modern Italian literature.
Printed in Zakynthos (Zante), Greece, in 1892, this scarce booklet records the public ceremony held to unveil the commemorative plaque on the house where Foscolo was born. It is an important document of Ionian cultural history and one of the rare surviving examples of nineteenth-century provincial Greek printing dedicated to the poet.
Title: Τα Αποκαλυπτήρια της Αναθηματικής Πλακός επί της Γενεθλίου Οικίας Ούγου Φώσκολου
(The Unveiling of the Commemorative Plaque on the Birthplace of Ugo Foscolo)
Published to commemorate the unveiling of the memorial plaque installed on Foscolo’s birthplace, this official booklet preserves the speeches, poems, inscriptions, and proceedings of the ceremony honouring Zakynthos’ most internationally celebrated literary figure.
Contents include:
As an official publication documenting a landmark cultural event, the booklet provides valuable insight into the nineteenth-century rediscovery and celebration of Foscolo’s Greek origins and the enduring cultural ties between Greece and Italy.
Born in Zakynthos in 1778 to a Greek mother and a Venetian father, Ugo Foscolo became one of Italy’s greatest Romantic poets and an influential intellectual of the Napoleonic era. His masterpieces, including Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis and Dei Sepolcri, remain cornerstones of Italian literature, while his birthplace on Zakynthos continues to symbolize the historic cultural connection between Greece and Italy.
Nineteenth-century publications printed in Zakynthos are genuinely scarce. Their survival became even more limited following the devastating 1953 Ionian earthquakes, which destroyed much of the island’s architectural heritage together with municipal archives, private libraries, and historical collections.
Consequently, original Zakynthian imprints of this period are increasingly difficult to obtain, particularly ephemeral commemorative publications such as the present example.
Please examine all photographs carefully, as they form an integral part of the description.
Spyridon Joseph De Viazis (often referred to as Δε Βιάζης or Δε-Βιάζης, 1849–1927) was a prominent Greek scholar, historian, and bibliophile of Italian descent, based in Corfu and Zakynthos. He was a prolific writer, contributing extensively to Greek literary history, local folklore, and biographical studies of Ionian figures.
