<p>In both countries, the desire to renew the Italian and Hungarian languages, given their historical situation (Habsburg oppression) and the fact that they were the most important element of intellectual life, led to common phenomena in the development of literatures. While the Hungarian intelligentsia aimed at a complete reform of the literary and vernacular language (among others, the bodyguards of Maria Theresa in Vienna), the Italian linguistic crisis of the 18th and 19th centuries did not affect the prestige of lyrical works based on the Dantean and Petrarchan tradition. In other areas, Italian writers compensated for the linguistic deficit with other elements, mainly musical (libretto) and visual (commedia dell'arte). The Arcadia that created in Rome from the religious and secular components filled the gap left by the philosophical-poetic Enlightenment, both in its organisational system and in its poetics. The paper describes the organisation of the Hungarian <i>colonia</i> through the activities of Ferenc Kazinczy and the emergence of Hungarian poetry based on the musical principle. Finally, the first major literary debate among writers on the controversial meaning of the metaphor of Arcadia, which continues to have an impact today.</p>