Influssi tolstoiani nelle campagne bergamasche

The present study aims to detect possible references to the Tolstoyan movement in the discursive landscape pertaining to the rural area around Bergamo, Italy, between the 19th and the 20th Century. Particularly, this works focuses on the case of the “Società dei Probi Contadini” (Society of Equitable Peasants), one of the first examples of rural cooperative in Italy based on the “sistema di affittanza collettiva” (collective rent system). The cooperative was founded in 1903 in Treviglio, Italy, by Mons. Ambrogio Portaluppi, whose ideas suggest interesting parallels with Lev Tolstoy’s philosophy. This hypothesis is reinforced by the combination of several favourable conditions: the Pontificate of Leo XIII, similar and openly Tolostoyan experiences in the same area, and the 1906 official visit of Vladimir Karlovič Sabler, a prominent figure related to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.