Giulio Preti (Pavia 1911 – Djerba 1972): A Critical Rationalist

Extract

The philosopher Giulio Preti belongs to that generation of young intellectuals who, in 1930s Italy, called for a profound regeneration of philosophy, arts and culture. Known by the name of ‘critical rationalism’, the movement formed in Milan around the philosopher Antonio Banfi (1886-1957). Luciano Anceschi, Vittorio Sereni, Enzo Paci, Antonia Pozzi, Remo Cantoni, as well as painters like Aligi Sassu and Ernesto Treccani were the young people who, under the banner of an anti-fascism that was at first cultural then openly militant (several of them were thrown into prison by the regime), aroused an intellectual fervour that was the marker of a thorough-going renewal of Italian culture. Journals such as Corrente di vita giovanile attracted eminent figures like Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo, Elio Vittorini or Carlo Emilio Gadda and linked up with other intellectual groupings, like the circle of hermetic poets in Florence (Mario Luzi, Piero Bigongiari, Carlo Bo, Oreste Macrì, Alessandro Parronchi) and the painters from the Rome School (Scipione, Guttuso, Mafai, Afro …). Young film-makers like Alberto Lattuada and Luigi Comencini also made their debut with the movement.