Politics & Governance / International Politics / Colonialism & Decolonization

How a Fake Indian Boy Fooled a King: The Forgotten Colonial Obsession of Florence

In 1886, the King and Queen of Italy visited Florence’s grand new Indian Museum. A young Indian boy presented flowers and recited Sanskrit. There was just one problem: the boy was an Italian carpenter’s son, painted brown, forced to memorize gibberish. This wasn’t a glitch in history—it was the logical endpoint of a forgotten chapter. Historian Filipa Lowndes Vicente’s book 'Altri Orientalismi' (Other Orientalisms) uncovers the true story of how Florence, the Renaissance capital, tried to become Europe’s center for Indian studies. We follow Angelo De Gubernatis, a Sanskrit professor who dressed as a Brahmin, stole sacred plants, and bankrupted his city to loot 410 manuscripts. And we meet José Gerson da Cunha, a Catholic Goan doctor knighted by the Pope, who secretly wore a Shiva lingam under his suit. This video reveals the messy, hypocritical, and ultimately tragic reality of 19th-century Orientalism—and asks: are we still doing the same thing today?