Italian reviewers of vladimir zabugin’s concept of "Christian renaissance"

The article is devoted to the reception of the works of Vladimir Zabugin, a Russian philologist, thinker and historian of the Italian Renaissance, in Italy. His concept of «Christian Renaissance» developed in «The history of Christian Renaissance in Italy» (1924) was innovative for that time and infringed on «convenient» dogmas about the Renaissance culture, which Zabugin, unlike many other researchers, saw as predominantly Catholic. Special attention in this paper is paid to the critical reviews of his works by such prominent Italian intellectuals as G. Gentile, B. Croce, V Cian, R. Sabbadini and others. Basing on the analysis of these texts, the author shows that the interpretations of Zabugin’s works were often guided not by purely academic considerations, but by ideological motives. Official scholars of fascist Italy have tried to diminish the scientific status of the concept of «Christian Renaissance», an increased interest in which is observed in today’s Italy.