Libyan Written Heritage in the Sormani Library in Milan and in the Archive of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome

This paper aims to present two poems belonging to Libyan Amāzīġ written heritage in Arabic, respectively housed in the Central Municipal Library in Milan, known as Sormani Library, and the Archive of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome. The first is among the documents of the Italian orientalist Eugenio Griffini (1878–1925) and was composed by ʿAlī b. al-Ḥājj Ibrāhīm Muḥammad an-Nālūtī in December 1911 or January 1912. The second poem belongs to the collection of the Italian orientalist Carlo Conti Rossini (1872–1949) and was composed at the end of 1911 by ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān al-Būṣīrī, son of Muḥammad b. Qāsim b. Abī al-Qāsim b. ʿUṯmān. Both poems were written during the Italo-Turkish war (1911–1912) and the consequent occupation of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica by the Italian Army. This is the historical context in which the two Italian orientalists collected the poems. The poems constitute valuable historical sources, as they contain a reading of the historical events and a description of the feelings of the protagonists. They offer precious insight into Libyan society of that time, characterized by tribal structures and a strong religious identity.