The image of the middle ages in Italo Calvino’s trilogy “Our ancestors”

The article delves into the study of the medieval past in the European historical consciousness and cultural memory after the World War II. Reception and representation of the Middle Ages are considered as constants of the development of European and universal culture. The main subject of analysis is the image of the Middle Ages constructed in the fiction of the period. The focus of the study is the trilogy “Our Ancestors” (1960) by the Italian writer, publicist, literary critic Italo Calvino (1923-1985). The image of the Middle Ages in Calvino’s novels is considered in the context of understanding the European Enlightenment and current historical and philosophical reflection. The ways of constructing the image of the Middle Ages in Calvino’s texts are revealed, also its relationship with history, literature and folklore is examined. The study of the image of the Middle Ages can be useful both for clarifying the peculiarities of historical representations of his time and for understanding the epoch itself, which gave rise to the image.