The aim of this course is to retrace "la questione della lingua" in Italy in order to suggest a different approach to, as well as another perspective on, this crucial period of the history of Italian literature and language. Particular attention is given to those factors, which are usually considered marginal (book market, economic situation, religious influence, popular texts/works, and so on) in order to show how they interacted with the question of language. The main idea is that these very factors had a profound impact on Italian society and determined the socio-linguistic situation that ensued in the Italian peninsula.