In Defense of Dilettantism

Guy Raz Newsletter – June 27, 2024

Greetings from Florence, Italy! Over the past few days, I’ve had a chance to really dive into the art and architecture of this incredible city—the birthplace of the Renaissance. The great masters all came through Florence: (the ninja turtles) Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello. Botticelli, della Francesca, Titian and so many others.

Unlike our terrific guide who studied Renaissance artists for 5 years, I am far from being an expert in Renaissance art or history. But I have developed a casual interest in it. I can’t write a scholarly essay but I have enough knowledge to carry on a conversation or understand a reference point.

I have a lot of casual interests. Lots of things I know something about but not enough to call myself an expert. We have a pejorative term for this: dilettante.

But being in Italy, I learned the etymology of the word and it turns out—it used to be something people wanted to be: dilettante is an Italian word. It meant someone who was a “lover of the arts” …