La rete di conoscenze di Denis Fonvizin nel suo viaggio italiano (1784-1785)

This article illuminates the personal networks enjoyed by playwright Denis Fonvizin during his journey to Italy in 1784-1785. The trip, motivated largely by a desire to purchase art (in association with Petersburg art dealer German Klosterman), was recorded in a lively and engaging series of letters that have inexplicably never been translated into Italian. We explore Fonvizin’s connection with the persons mentioned in these letters, adding several new details to what was previously known about the context of his travels and illuminating the specific personal networks available to or activated by him en route. A well-connected member of the nobility in Petersburg, Fonvizin remained so abroad, participating in an international group of European nobles that shared specific touristic practices and tastes. In Italy, he socialized with various members of the Italian nobility as well as other traveling or expatriated foreigners, with elite Russians in the diplomatic service or on tour, with various bankers, with numerous artists whom he often supported through purchases and subsidies, and with domestic servants. A better understanding of Fonvizin’s personal networks allows us to better appreciate the specific paths along which diverse types of knowledge circulated between Russia and Europe, and specifically between Russia and Italy, in the Catherinian age.