LOQUERISNE LATINE?

Latin is a comical and ignorant polarization.

It is the language of European civilization, untouched by any form of exclusivity."

This is what Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, writes in the preface to Francesco Lepore's latest book (Castelvecchi Editions), titled "Beauty Ancient and Ever New. Latin in Today's World."

by F. Q.

From maxims and phrases bandied about by ministers in the Chamber to words used in everyday conversations: Latin, a subject of contention for its return to school curricula, still plays a crucial role in fully understanding the Italian language and European cultural identity. Francesco Lepore analyzes its use, diffusion, and relevance in his latest book, "Beauty Ancient and Ever New. Latin in Today's World" (Castelvecchi Editions). Because "we make much more of this language," writes the journalist and writer, "the undeniable mother of Italian" than we think. A language of over two thousand years of civilization, it has shaped our idea of ​​the individual, the community, and the law. But Latin is also a surprising key to understanding the present. The text, which features a preface by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, explains how the ancient language continues to speak to us and fascinate us. It is followed by fifty short articles—the commentatiunculae—taken from the daily column "O tempora, o mores," which the author edits in Latin for the online newspaper Linkiesta. Current events, from Trump to Sanremo, from Bolsonaro to the European Championships, are told with parallel text in a Latin that remains accessible and captures our world. Ilfattoquotidiano.it publishes Zuppi's preface and an excerpt from the volume.

***

Preface by Matteo Maria Zuppi

Never before has Latin returned to the center of public debate like in 2025, following the announced reintroduction of the subject in middle schools. I belong to the generation that began studying it in middle school, before it was abolished in 1977, trained, moreover, by a mother who was a Latin teacher and had left her teaching post to devote herself to her children's classrooms! The former rector of the University of Bologna, Ivano Dionigi, warned against turning it into "an identity flag" or "an ideological issue." This is what Francesco Lepore explains in this book on Latin in today's world. In the first part of the work, the author, who owes his love for the language of ancient Rome to his father, a student of Francesco Arnaldi, clears up any misunderstanding. In the fearful, sometimes comical, and certainly ignorant, widespread polarization, Latin is no one's prerogative. It is a richness and a common good, the means to better understand Italian and other European languages, the language of two thousand years of European civilization. As a whole, and therefore not just classical Latin, Latin has played a fundamental role in building Europe's identity.

Ad

Il Fatto Quotidiano

Image