Italian nationalism
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Italian nationalism (
Italian nationalism is often thought to trace its origins to the
History
Renaissance to 19th century
The origins of Italian nationalism have been traced to
In 1454, representatives from all the regional states of Italy met in Lodi to sign the treaty known as the
The Renaissance-era diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli, in his work The Prince (1532), appealing to Italian patriotism urged Italians "to seize Italy and free her from the Barbarians", by which he referred to the foreign powers occupying the Italian peninsula.[6] Machiavelli quoted four verses from Petrarch's “Italia mia”, which looked forward to a political leader who would unite Italy.[7]
During the Italian Wars Pope Julius II (1503–1513) made every effort to forge Italian alliances to drive the enemy – in his time the French – out of the country. And although his rallying cry fuori i barbari (‘Put the barbarians out!’) is probably apocryphal, it very neatly sums up the feeling of many Italians.[8] In his treatise Discorso sopra il concilio che si ha da fare, e sopra la unione d'Italia, published in 1566, Girolamo Muzio, a prominent man of letters of the mid-1500s, advocated for the first time the political unification of Italy.[9]
In 1559 the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis marked the end of Italian liberty and the beginning of a period of uncontested Spanish hegemony in Italy. During the long-lasting period of Spanish domination a vitriolic anti-Spanish polemic became widespread throughout Italy. Trajano Boccalini wrote many anti-Spanish pamphlets, such as Pietra del paragone politico (Politick Touchstone), published after his death in 1615. Followers of Boccalini published similar anti-Spanish pamphlets in the same period, such as Esequie delle reputazione di Spagna, printed in 1615, in which the corpse of the reputation of Spain is dissected by famous anatomists.
Modern historians disagree on the strength of “Italianità” (Italian national identity) in the early modern period. By contrast, Spanish diplomats in Italy at the time were all too certain that Italians shared a common bond of resentment against the imperial power of Spain.[10]
Charles Emmanuel I's expansionist policy ignited Italian nationalism and patriotism. In 1614 Alessandro Tassoni published in quick succession two anonymous Filippiche addressed to the Italian nobility, exhorting the nobles to discard their lethargy, unite and instead of fighting each other, join Savoy in ridding Italy of Spanish hegemony.[11]
At about the same time that Tassoni was inspired to write the Filippiche, Fulvio Testi, a young poet at the court of the duke of Este, published a collection of poems dedicated to Charles Emmanuel. Not all the poems were of a patriotic nature, but those that were clearly revealed the feelings Charles Emmanuel had stirred in freedom-loving Italians.[11] Testi followed this up, in 1617, with the Pianto d'Italia, where Italy calls for a war of national independence, in which the Duke of Savoy is to be the leader.[12]
More than fifty years later Vittorio Siri still reminisced that “all Italy broke forth with pen and tongue in praises and panegyrics at the name of Carlo Emanuele, and in demonstrations of joy and applause that he had revived . . . the ancient Latin valor, wishing that he . . . [might] one day become the redeemer of Italy's freedom and the restorer of its greatness.”[13]
The failure of Charles Emmanuel's expansive foreign policy caused a widespread crisis among Italian nationalists.
In Vincenzo da Filicaja's late seventeenth-century sonnet “Italia, Italia O tu, cui feo la sorte” (Italy, Italy, O you, to whom fate has given) the 'unlucky gift of beauty' was the reason why Italy, 'the slave of friend and foe', had repeatedly been conquered, sacked and exploited throughout history. Filicaia's sonnet was well known, along with Petrarch's Italia mia, as one of the great Italian patriotic lyrics. It appeared in Sismondi's De la littérature du midi (where it is praised as 'the most celebrated specimen which the Italian literature of the seventeenth century affords') and was frequently translated into English.[14]
In 1713 the Dukes of Savoy, who traditionally possessed the title of an imperial vicar of Italy, obtained royal dignity, securing their pre-eminence among the Italian princes.[15]
When France started to annex
revolt and were later followed by the birth of the so-called "irredentism".Paoli was sympathetic to
We are Corsicans by birth and sentiment, but first of all we feel Italian by language, origins, customs, traditions; and Italians are all brothers and united in the face of history and in the face of God ... As Corsicans we wish to be neither slaves nor "rebels" and as Italians we have the right to deal as equals with the other Italian brothers ... Either we shall be free or we shall be nothing... Either we shall win or we shall die, weapons in hand ... The war against France is right and holy as the name of God is holy and right, and here on our mountains will appear for Italy the sun of liberty....Tommaseo. "Lettere di Pasquale de Paoli"
1830s to 1848
The initial important figure in the development of Italian nationalism was Giuseppe Mazzini, who became a nationalist in the 1820s.
Vincenzo Gioberti in 1843 in his book On the Civil and Moral Primacy of the Italians, advocated a federal state of Italy led by the Pope.[20]
Economic nationalism influenced businessmen and government authorities to promote a united Italy.[19] Prior to unification, tariff walls held between the Italian states and the disorganized railway system prevented economic development of the peninsula.[19] Prior to the revolutions of 1848, Carlo Cattaneo advocated an economic federation of Italy.[21]
Revolutions of 1848 to Risorgimento (1859 to 1870)
Supporters of Italian nationalism ranged from across the political spectrum: it appealed to both conservatives and liberals.[23] The Revolutions of 1848 resulted in a major development of the Italian nationalist movement. Liberalization of press laws in Piedmont allowed nationalist activity to flourish.[21]
Following the Revolutions of 1848 and the liberalization of press laws, the Italian nationalist organization, called the Italian National Society, was created in 1857 by Daniele Manin and Giorgio Pallevicino.[21] The National Society was created to promote and spread nationalism to political moderates in Piedmont and raised money, held public meetings, and produced newspapers.[21] The National Society helped to establish a base for Italian nationalism amongst the educated middle class.[21] By 1860, the National Society influenced dominant liberal circles in Italy and won over middle class support for the union of Piedmont and Lombardy.[24]
The statesman
The Risorgimento was an ideological movement that helped incite the feelings of brotherhood and nationalism in the imagined Italian community, which called for the unification of Italy and the pushing out of foreign powers. Literature, music, and other outlets of expression frequently alluded back to the glorious past of Rome and the miraculous feats their ancestors had accomplished in defending their homeland and kicking out the foreign occupants.[26]
Post-Risorgimento, World War I and aftermath (1870 to 1922)
After the unification of Italy was completed in 1870, the Italian government faced domestic political paralysis and internal tensions, resulting in it resorting to embarking on a colonial policy to divert the Italian public's attention from internal issues.[27]
In these years, one of the most prominent political figures was
Tired of the internal conflicts in Italy, a movement of bourgeois intellectuals led by
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Italy initially maintained neutrality, despite its official alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary since 1882 on the grounds that Germany and Austria-Hungary were waging an aggressive war that it refused to take part in.[27] In 1915, Italy eventually decided to enter the war on the British and French side against Austria-Hungary and Germany.[27]
Nationalist pride soared in Italy after the end of hostilities in November 1918, with the victory of Italy and Allied forces over Austria-Hungary and the seizure by Italy of former Austro-Hungarian territories. Italian nationalism became a major force at both elite and popular levels until 1945, when popular democracy became a much more important force.[29]
Freemasonry was an influential semi-secret force in Italian politics with a strong presence among professionals and the middle class across Italy, as well as among the leadership in parliament, public administration, and the army. The two main organisation were the Grand Orient and the Grand Lodge of Italy. They had 25,000 members in 500 or more lodges. Freemasons took on the challenge of mobilizing the press, public opinion. and the leading political parties in support of Italy's joining the Allies. traditionally, Italian nationalism focused on unification, and undermining the power of the Catholic Church. In 1914-15 they dropped the traditional pacifistic rhetoric and used instead the powerful language of Italian nationalism. Freemasonry had always promoted cosmopolitan universal values, and by 1917 onwards they demanded a League of Nations to promote a new post-war universal order based upon the peaceful coexistence of independent and democratic nations.[30]
Italy's demands in the Paris peace settlement of 1919 were not fully achieved: Italy did attain Trentino, Trieste, the Istrian peninsula, and South Tyrol from Austria-Hungary, though other territories previously promised to Italy were not given to it.[27]
In particular, Italian nationalists were enraged by the Allies denying Italy the right to annex
Fascism and World War II (1922 to 1945)
The
Mussolini sought to build closer relations with Germany and the United Kingdom while showing hostility towards France and Yugoslavia.
Post–World War II and current situation
After the fall of Fascism and following the birth of the
In 1995 the MSI developed in the
In the 2000s, Italian nationalism seemed to gain a moderate support by the society, in particular during important days such as the
Italian nationalism has also faced a great deal of opposition from within Italy itself.
Symbols
-
Civil flag of Italy, originally designed in 1797. A symbol of the Italian nation since the early-19th century and symbol of the Italian Republic since 1946.
-
Civil flag of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946. Presently used by Italian monarchists.
-
War flag of the Italian Social Republic, the incarnation of Fascist Italy from 1943 to 1945 after the Fascist regime in the Kingdom of Italy was dismantled in 1943. It is a prominent symbol used by Italian neo-fascists.
Italian nationalist parties
Current major party
- Brothers of Italy (2012–present)
- Lega (2017-present)
Current minor parties
- Fascism and Freedom Movement(1991–present)
- Tricolour Flame (1995–present)
- Unitalia (1996–present)
- National Front (1997–present)
- New Force (1997–present)
- New Italian Social Movement (2000–present)
- CasaPound (2003–present)
- Social Idea Movement (2004–present)
- Social Right (2013–present)
- United Right (2014–present)
Former
- Action Party(1848–1867)
- Italian Nationalist Association (1910–1923)
- Fascio Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista (1914)
- Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria (1915–1919)
- Futurist Political Party (1918–1920)
- Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (1919–1921)
- National Fascist Party (1921–1943)
- Republican Fascist Party (1943–1945)
- Democratic Fascist Party (1945–1946)
- Italian Movement of Social Unity(1946)
- Italian Social Movement (1946–1995)
- Alleanza Nazionale(1995-2009)
- National Front (1967–1970)
- National Front (1990–2000)
- The Right (2007–2017)
- National Movement for Sovereignty (2017–2019)
Personalities
- Gabriele D'Annunzio
- Benito Mussolini
- Enrico Corradini
- Giorgio Almirante
- Roberto Fiore
- Massimo Morsello
- Roberto Farinacci
- Stefano Delle Chiaie
- Giuseppe Mazzini
See also
- Nationalism (Italy)
- Italian Empire
- History of Italy
- Italian culture
- Italian Fascism
- Italian irredentism
- Italian unification
- Italians
- Revolutions of 1848
References
- ^ a b c Aaron Gillette. Racial theories in fascist Italy. 2nd edition. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 17.
- ^ a b Trafford R. Cole. Italian Genealogical Records: How to Use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical & Other Records in Family History Research. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Ancestry Incorporated, 1995. Pp. 15.
- ^ J. P. T. Bury, ed. The new Cambridge modern history: The zenith of European power 1830–70 1964. Pp. 224.
- ISBN 9788856818680.
- ISBN 9781412837293.
- ^ Mikael Hörnqvist. Machiavelli and Empire. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. 259.
- ISBN 9781139456340. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ For Julius II's anti-French policy, see Shaw C., Julius II. The Warrior Pope (Oxford: 1996) 245–278; for the rallying cry, see ibid. 245.
- ^ Campbell, G. (2003). "Muzio, Girolamo". The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
- ^ For a description of Italian ideas of national identity, see Felix Gilbert, “Italy,” in National Consciousness, History, and Political Culture in Early-Modern Europe, ed. Orest Ranum (Baltimore, 1975), pp. 21–42.
- ^ a b Emiliana Pasca Noether (1969). Seeds of Italian Nationalism, 1700-1815. AMS Press. p. 40.
- ^ Edmund G. Gardner (1921). The National Idea in Italian Literature. Manchester University Press. p. 46.
- ^ Vittorio Siri, Memorie recondite (Paris, 1677), III, 367.
- ^ Filicaia's sonnet is best known in Britain through Byron's translation in Childe Harold, IV, 42-3.
- ^ Mörschel, Tobias: Frontier-State, Buffer-State, Weak-State? The Duchy of Savoy-Piedmont in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries, in: Almut Bues (ed.), Zones of Fracture in Modern Europe: The Baltic Countries, the Balkans, and Northern Italy, p. 93.
- ^ N. Tommaseo. "Lettere di Pasquale de Paoli" (in Archivio storico italiano, 1st series, vol. XI).
- ^ a b Vincent P. Pecora. Nations and identities: classic readings. Oxford, England, UK; Malden, Massachusetts, USA: Blackwell Publishers, Inc, 2001. Pp. 156.
- ^ a b c John Gooch. The Unification of Italy. Taylor & Francis e-library, 2001. Pp. 5.
- ^ a b c John Gooch. The Unification of Italy. Taylor & Francis e-library, 2001. Pp. 6.
- ^ Jonathan Sperber. The European revolutions, 1848-1851. Second Edition. Cambridge, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Pp. 97.
- ^ a b c d e f Lucy Riall. The Italian Risorgimento: State, society and national unification. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 1994. Pp. 69.
- ^ Nationalism (Cavour). treccani.it/
- ^ J. P. T. Bury. The new Cambridge modern history: The zenith of European power 1830–70. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1964. Pp. 226.
- ^ Lucy Riall. The Italian Risorgimento: State, society and national unification. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 1994. Pp. 70.
- ^ Holt, The Making of Italy: 1815–1870, p. 195.
- ^ Risorgimento, Britannica.com
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Motyl 2001, pp. 248.
- ^ Nation-building in 19th-century Italy: the case of Francesco Crispi, Christopher Duggan, History Today, February 1, 2002
- ^ Massimo Salvadori, "Nationalism in Modern Italy-1915 and after." Orbis-A Journal of World Affairs 10.4 (1967): 1157-1175.
- ^ Fulvio Conti, "From Universalism to Nationalism: Italian Freemasonry and the Great War." Journal of Modern Italian Studies 20.5 (2015): 640-662.
- ^ a b c d Reynolds Mathewson Salerno. Vital crossroads: Mediterranean origins of the Second World War, 1935-1940. Ithaca, New York, USA: Cornell University Press, 2002. Pp. 4.
- ISBN 978-0-7565-1988-9.
- ^ Reynolds Mathewson Salerno. Vital crossroads: Mediterranean origins of the Second World War, 1935-1940. Ithaca, New York, USA: Cornell University Press, 2002. Pp. 5.
- ISBN 978-0-313-32485-7.
PA151.
- ISBN 978-88-9026-741-3.
- ^ "La Repubblica/Esteri: Sigonella 1985: "Così fermammo gli Usa"".
- ^ Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. La Repubblica.it
- ^ "150° Anniversario / Home - Italia150". Archived from the original on 2014-02-08. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
- ^ Miklós Sukosd, Karol Jakubovicz (2011). Media, Nationalism and European Identities .1st .Budapest :CEU Press.
- ^ John A. Agnew (2002). Place and Politics in Modern Italy .1st .Chicago :The University of Chicago Press.
- ^ a b Peter Wagstaff. Regionalism in the European Union. Intellect Books, 1999. P; 141
- ^ Damian Tambini. Nationalism in Italian Politics: The Stories of the Northern League, 1980-2000. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2001. P. 34.
Further reading
- Barbour, Stephen and Cathie Carmichael, eds. (2000). Language and Nationalism in Europe (Oxford UP) chapter 8.
- Corradini, Enrico "Il Nazionalismo Italiano" (1921) ["Italian Nationalism" in English translation, Sunny Lou Publishing, 2023].
- Cunsolo, Ronald S. "Italian nationalism in historical perspective." History of European Ideas 16.4-6 (1993): 759–766.
- Cunsolo, Ronald S. Italian nationalism: from its origins to World War II (Krieger Pub Co, 1990).
- Cunsolo, Ronald S. "Italian Emigration and Its Effect on the Rise of Nationalism." Italian Americana 12.1 (1993): 62–72. in JSTOR
- Drake, Richard. "The Theory and Practice of Italian Nationalism, 1900-1906." Journal of Modern History (1981): 213–241. in JSTOR
- Marsella, Mauro. "Enrico Corradini's Italian nationalism: the ‘right wing’ of the fascist synthesis." Journal of Political Ideologies 9.2 (2004): 203-224.
- ISBN 0-12-227230-7.
- Noether, Emiliana Pasca. Seeds of Italian nationalism, 1700-1815 (Columbia University Press, 1951).
- Noether, Emiliana P. "The intellectual dimension of italian nationalism: An overview." History of European Ideas 16.4-6 (1993): 779–784.
- Patriarca, Silvana, and Lucy Riall, eds., The Risorgimento Revisited: Nationalism and Culture in Nineteenth-century Italy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
- Salvadori, Massimo. "Nationalism in Modern Italy-1915 and after." Orbis-A Journal of World Affairs 10.4 (1967): 1157–1175.
- Sluga, Glenda A. "The Risiera di San Sabba: Fascism, anti‐Fascism and Italian nationalism." Journal of Modern Italian Studies 1.3 (1996): 401–412.
- Tambini, Damian. Nationalism in Italian politics: The stories of the Northern League, 1980-2000 (Routledge, 2012).