In this article I compare Löwith’s reconstruction of nihilism with the
most radical outcomes of Leopardi’s thought, considering the surprising preludes,
traceable in the latter, of the process of secularization, modern disenchantment
and Nietzsche’s idea of the death of God. At the same time, this comparison
allows us to rethink the pars construens of the German philosopher’s,
concerning the redemption of nature and the future challenges that await man
in a non-anthropocentric perspective. Such a long-distance dialogue, in addition
to helping to fill possible historiographical and hermeneutic gaps, offers the
opportunity to problematize the reception of nihilism, reviving the question of
meaning in the wake of the Leopardian-Nietzschean skepsis.