Another necessary step to be taken in researching the reception of Quo vadis in Italy is the study of the novel’s resonance in literature for children and young adults. Dating to as early as 1900, the first adaptation of the book for young readers was published with a symptomatic subtitle “nuova traduzione ad uso della gioventù e delle famiglie” (a new translation for youth and families) (Quo vadis? - romanzo storico di E. Sienkievicz; nuova traduzione ad uso della gioventù e delle famiglie, trans. ENRICO SALVADORI. Roma: Desce, 1900). In the inter-war period, other multiple adaptations and reworkings of the novel targeted at a young readership were released. After World War Two, the novel clearly came to be perceived as first and foremost a literary classic for youth as indicated by multicoloured graphic design of and illustrations in the book’s re-editions, not only in the ones announced as reworkings or adaptations but also in tolerably faithful and complete translations of the original book. The strategies involved in adapting the novel for the use of the young audience call for in-depth inquiry (episodes regarded as excessively immoral or cruel were often removed, but first of all the book tended to be “clipped”: so-called riduzioni , or abridged versions, were rather frequent). Another interesting form of youth-targeted adaptations is represented by comics. In the 1960s, a longer Quo vadis comic strip book was released as an eighth volume in the Sepim series Collana di romanzi celebri. Quo vadis-based comics were also published in the press for children, such as Giornalino (San Paolo Publishers). In 1981, the latter magazine included a Quo vadis version authored by Rodolfo Torti, an artist specialising in remaking children’s literary classics into picture narratives. These adaptations also require a separate study.
