The 1897 Visit of King Chulalongkorn to Italy: A Media Frame Analysis of Italian Newspaper Articles

This study examines how the Italian press represented the King of Siam, Chulalongkorn, during his first European tour in 1897, which marked a fundamental step in the rapprochement between the West and the East. On the one hand, Europe gained direct contact with Siamese culture; on the other, the Siamese monarch—through his diplomacy and affable character—managed to avert the threat of colonial invasion and, simultaneously, elevate his country to the status of a European nation. The articles examined are drawn from seven major newspapers and have been analyzed using the media frame analysis method and interpreted through the lens of Van Waarden’s theoretical framework. Through the media coverage of Chulalongkorn’s visit, this study also aims to examine the characteristics of the ‘New Journalism’ style that Italian newspapers adopted.