The enlightened journalism of Elisabetta Caminer Turra

The 18th century saw the periodical press make its mark in almost all European countries. On the Italian peninsula, the Veneto region was home to various printed periodicals, including the Giornale enciclopedico (1774-1781), directed by Elisabetta Caminer Turra, which reported on literary and scientific innovations of Enlightenment Europe. Even in the context of the contemporary publishing scene, this was an unusual periodical both for its female direction and for its editorial configuration, and was created as a free and independent space from which to freely express enlightened ideas and fight against the principle of authority and the prejudices of the century. Building on studies by Angelo Colla (1992), Rita Unfer Lukoschik (1997), Catherine M. Sama (2003), Michaela Liuccio (2010) and Rotraud von Kulessa (2015), this paper aims to illustrate Caminer Turra’s professional ethics through an analysis of a selection of her articles, written during the early years of her editorship of Giornale (1777-1779). I will focus on her interest in the writings of Denis Diderot, Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, and John Locke; her commitment to education as an instrument for social renewal, and – finally – on on the ideas underpinning her journalistic work.