Religion / idea · movement

Italian Enlightenment

18th century · 18th century · Also known as Illuminismo

The Italian Enlightenment was the eighteenth-century movement of reform-minded thinkers in the Italian states, centred especially on Milan and Naples. Writers such as Pietro Verri, Cesare Beccaria, Antonio Genovesi and Gaetano Filangieri applied reason to economics, law and government, attacking torture, feudal privilege and clerical power. Their ideas informed the reforms of Habsburg Lombardy and Tuscany and of Bourbon Naples.

Italian Enlightenment
Image: Antonio Perego · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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Duchy of MilanImpact

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Italian Enlightenment. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/italian-enlightenment
MLA
“Italian Enlightenment.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/italian-enlightenment. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Italian Enlightenment.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/italian-enlightenment.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Italian Enlightenment’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/italian-enlightenment (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻