Filippo Pananti’s Algeria

Abstract

The Tuscan poet, playwright and democratic activist Filippo Pananti (1766–1837) was captured by Algerian corsairs in the Mediterranean on his way back to Italy from England in 1813 and was briefly held captive before being released thanks to the intervention of a British diplomat. He published a highly coloured and melodramatic account of his sufferings, together with a description of the country, in 1817; the work, called Avventure ed osservazioni sopra le coste di Barberia, went through several editions and was translated into English, French and German. This article studies Pananti’s extremely hostile view of Algeria, which draws on many earlier writings about the country and reproduces contemporary racial, political and religious stereotypes about the Muslim world. It also throws light on the contemporary international context of his call for a European expedition to free the Mediterranean of North African pirates and liberate the Christian ‘slaves’ in Algeria.