This course aims to examine the literary works of Italo Calvino and Pier Paolo Pasolini, together with Pasolini’s films, to debate the dynamics of the Italian Novecento through the increasingly divergent trajectories of these two authors, who were in a constant and critical dialogue throughout the years of their literary and cinematic careers. We will retrace two visions of the role of literature and culture, which point to two different legacies for the 21 st Century. In Italian.