Tagore and Nationalism: A Perspective on Italy Imagining the Indian Unity

This chapter presents some considerations about the journeys of Tagore in Italy (1925, 1926) and the links of the poet with the Italian personalities of the period. By reconstructing cultural relations between Bengali intellectuals and Italy between late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this chapter outlines how the history of Italy served as a model for many Indian thinkers in imagining the road towards Indian unity. On the basis of such fascination, it is safe to argue that the mahakabi approached Italy in an effort to explore the local political situation as well as to promote cultural exchange.