'Questo libretto dunque tanto utile': Anglo-Italian Relations through the Lens of the History of Modern Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

The analysis of two early eighteenth-century grammars by Arrigo/Henry Pleunus for the teaching of, respectively, English to Italian learners and the Italian language to English, presents a useful case study for an investigation of contemporary Anglo-Italian cultural relations. Pleunus, an unknown “Maestro di Lingue”, addressed specifically (if not exclusively) an audience of merchants desirous of acquiring new linguistic skills. How the spread of English as an important modern vernacular was stimulated by the demand for English for practical aims in early eighteenth-century Italy is a chapter of Anglo-Italian relations that remains to be written. This paper makes a contribution to understanding the dynamics of Anglo-Italian linguistic and cultural exchanges by discussing the role of merchants as key players behind new language learning initiatives.