Elémire Zolla. In defense of Tradition against the civitas diaboli

This thesis aims at exploring the space that remained free from the “Marxist cultural hegemony” in the post -war Italian intellectual milieu and focuses on Elémire Zolla, an eccentric writer whose impressive body of work remained far from the mainstream. Although he wasn’t a political author in the strict sense, his overall thought has a broad political meaning in the noblest sense of the word and covers a wide range of subjects. The research has been carried out intertwining history of intellectuals and political history through qualitative research methods, studying primary and secondary sources and also using the tool of interview. Zolla emerges as a prominent anti-modern writer who managed to preserve his intellectual freedom within the highly ideologized Italian intellectual milieu. His thought - focused on the idea of a perennial Tradition – shows internal coherence and appears convincing