Italians have been interested in the Kalevala during different cultural and historical phases.
The Italian translators who have translated the Kalevala form a diverse group of people from various fields. We can find national authors, explorers, geologists, philologists, professors of Sanskrit and ancient Greek as well as experts in folk lore studies, cultural anthropologists and even one of the leaders of the rebellion in Milan in 1848, the patriot and philosopher Carlo Cattaneo. Each one of them have interpreted the Finnish national epic in their own way and brought out their view in forewords, books that are about the Kalevala and in articles.