The Filangieri-Franklin Correspondence: A 240-Year Long Discourse Between Italy and the U.S.

The Italian Program (Department of World Languages & Cultures) and the Coccia Institute were thrilled to collaborate with the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) in welcoming Professor Amedeo Arena (from the University of Naples “Federico II”) to campus!

Americans may know of Benjamin Franklin’s friendship with Filippo Mazzei and the impact it had on Franklin’s contributions to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. However, few know of Benjamin Franklin’s correspondence with the greatest representative of Neapolitan Enlightenment, Gaetano Filangeri, and the impact that it had on our nation’s founding documents.

This in-person talk took place on Friday, April 19th in the Feliciano School of Business, Room 101. Prof. Arena gave a talk on the impact of this important correspondence, which was followed by an engaging Q&A session.

Grazie ancora to NIAF for this opportunity!