William Butler Yeats e l'Italia

In the fascinating scenario of the historical and cultural relationships between Ireland and Italy, William Butler Yeats occupied and still occupies a prominent and eminent position (not adequately investigated up to the present). He nourished what one may call a deep devotion to Italy and “learned Italian things” (as he called them in “The Tower”), which manifested itself in different ways all along his life. This brief and introductory essay intends to give a necessarily sketchy and simplified idea of the persistence of Italy in Yeats’s overall personal and creative identity.