Il diavolo di Pio IX, il serpente di Ernest Renan

The essay examines the presence of the Devil in the European culture of the second half of the XIX century. Propagated by the Magisterium of Pius IX, and reinforced by the dogma of The Immaculate Conception and its visual tradition, this presence permeates scholarly and popular culture. In the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, scholars such as Ernest Renan had many demerits: not least, that of questioning the corporeal reality of the devil.The Devil was not a metaphor, but was a reality, even in form of a snake. Renan also questioned this connection: during one of his youthful trips to Pisa, he revealed the cultural, rather than theological, nature of this link.