Il viaggio fantastico nelle biblioteche del Mezzogiorno in età moderna

For centuries, the “fantastic” has permeated the European Medieval literature: from Prester John Kingdom to the search for Terrestrial Paradise, from monstrous peoples to fantastic beasts. These are all elements which men believed to be real, and that, later, have characterized the first stage of the geographical explorations, together with the whole Christian imagination. They were then transformed and adapted into travel journals, memoirs, and this kind of literature between XVI and XVII centuries. A kind of literature that circulated widely in Europe and in Southern Italy, as it can be observed through the examination of some aristocratic libraries taken into consideration.