The legend of Alexander the Great represents one of the most fruitful themes in world literary history, forged over more than twenty centuries through a vast series of texts in countless languages. The legend continues to attract the attention of scholars working in several disciplinary fields, exploring the various characters, functions, and meanings of such an unstoppable success.
This article presents a thematic outline of the cultural and literary relations between Italy and Iran from the 16th century to present. It focuses on the translation of key-works from Persian into Italian and vice-versa.
The Alexander Romance constitutes one of the main narrative cycles belonging to the common Eurasian medieval library, and Iran has played a central role in all aspects of its mythical and historical roots as well as its eschatological and literary developments through the centuries.
Italo Calvino is reputed to be the most read Italian writer in the world. After the posthumous publication of his Six Memos for the Next Millennium, his works – translated in innumerable languages – have met with sustained success and made him a reference point among intellectuals in the fields of literature and culture in numerous countries.
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