La città secolare: il sogno effimero di sentirsi a casa nel disincanto

It was only in the modern age that the contrast between the urban and the rural lifestyle ended up being understood in terms of the linear evolution from a less to a more civilized stage of the human kind. In particular, the development of a detached and blasé attitude towards the world and others has been regarded since then as an essential element of such refinement of human manners. In the essay, the connection between detachment, disenchantment and urban mentality is discussed in the light of the fleeting success of the concept of the «secular city» and of how the latter did not survive the impact of the recent critique of the standard secularization thesis.