My essay deals with the relationship between Pascoli and Eastern thought, particularly Indian philosophy and Vedic hymns. In fact, not only did the poet study European literature, from classical to contemporary writers, but he was also interested in the works of ancient Indian wisdom such as Bhagavadgîtâ, read through the comments of Michele Kerbaker and the knowledge of the Indianist Carlo Formichi. The presence of Buddhist motifs in the works of Pascoli is in­vestigated within the horizon of European culture of the late Nineteenth century, characterized by the spread of the Oriental Studies which at that time became a real fashion; particular attention is devoted both to d’Annunzio’s Japonism and to the fascination that other writers such as Kipling, Salgari, Gozzano and Hesse had with India. Light is thus thrown on an interesting yet little explored aspect of Pascoli’s taste, who anticipated the interest that twentieth-century European imagination had in Buddhism and Indian mysticism, which was then reinterpreted in the works of writers such as Moravia and Pasolini. Keywords: Pascoli, Orient, Buddhism, Indology, Sanskrit.