The 'Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti' began publication in Rome, Italy, under the financial backing of Giovanni Treccani and the intellectual direction of philosopher Giovanni Gentile. Although produced under Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime, the encyclopedia maintained an exceptionally high level of scholarly and artistic quality, featuring beautifully produced photographic plates and authoritative articles written by prominent experts, many of whom were covert anti-fascists.

The 'Treccani' encyclopedia carefully preserved Italy's classical and Renaissance literary history under a unified nationalistic banner. This heavy institutional focus on traditional grandeur forced contemporary hermetic poets like Eugenio Montale to write complex, layered verse that subtly resisted fascist cultural conformity.