Vincenzo Cuoco
Vincenzo Cuoco | |
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Born | |
Died | December 14, 1823 | (aged 53)
Nationality | Italian |
Alma mater | University of Naples Federico II |
Region | |
School | Counter-Enlightenment |
Main interests | Political philosophy Philosophy of history |
This article is part of a series on |
Conservatism in Italy |
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Vincenzo Cuoco (October 1, 1770 – December 14, 1823) was an Italian writer. He is mainly remembered for his Saggio Storico sulla Rivoluzione Napoletana del 1799 ("Historical Essay on the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799"). He is considered as one of the precursors of the realist school and Italian liberalism.[1][2] Cuoco adapted the critique of political rationalism of Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre for liberal ends, and has been described as a better historian than either of them.[3] He influenced many subsequent Italian intellectuals, from Ugo Foscolo and Alessandro Manzoni to Bertrando and Silvio Spaventa to Benedetto Croce and Antonio Gramsci.[3][4]
Biography
Early life
Vincenzo Cuoco was born into a
Revolution and exile
When the
He accepted positions in the
Back to Naples
In 1806 Vincenzo Cuoco returned to Naples, as Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies had been deposed in favour of Giuseppe Bonaparte (Napoleon's elder brother). He was given significant responsibilities in the public administration, first as Consigliere di Cassazione (councilor to the Supreme Court), then as Direttore del Tesoro (director of the Treasury); he distinguished himself as one of the most important councilors of the government of Joachim Murat. He wrote for the magazine Monitore delle Due Sicilie ("Monitor of the Two Sicilies"), and founded the Giornale Costituzionale delle Due Sicilie ("Constitutional Journal of the Two Sicilies"). In 1809, Cuoco also drafted a Progetto per l'Ordinamento della Pubblica Istruzione nel Regno di Napoli" ("Project for the Ordainment of Public Education in the Kingdom of Naples"), in which he expounded his view of public education as an indispensable tool towards the formation of a common national awareness in the people. In 1808 he was the president of the Accademia Pontaniana.
In 1810 he was named Chief of the Provincial Council of Molise and, in 1812, wrote the Viaggio in Molise ("Journey Through Molise") about his native region. In 1815, after Ferdinand I was restored to the throne following the Battle of Tolentino, Cuoco retired from politics.
Illness and death
After his retirement, Cuoco started to show worrying signs of mental instability. He reportedly destroyed some of his writings, had frequent breakdowns, and became increasingly apathetic and withdrawn from social life. There are no clues as to the exact cause of these symptoms; but whatever the disease was, he died of it in Naples in 1823.
Works
- Lettere a Vincenzo Russo ("Letters to Vincenzo Russo") - Written during the 1799 Neapolitan Republic, the letters comment on the Constitution that was being written for the nascent Republic and champion devolution.
- Saggio Storico sulla Rivoluzione Napoletana del 1799 ("Historical Essay on the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799") - Published in 1801 in Milan, where Cuoco was exiled, is a passionate critique of the short-lived republican Revolution, which Cuoco identified as doomed to failure (because it was carried out by an elite of revolutionaries detached from the common people), yet praiseworthy (because it tried to free the people and was paid for with the heroic sacrifice of the revolutionaries' lives once the monarchy was restored). Cuoco wrote a second edition which was published in 1806 and remains the standard account to this day.
- Platone in Italia ("Plato in Italy") - Published in 1806 in Risorgimento, most notably by Vincenzo Gioberti.
References
- A. Boroli et al., Universo - la grande enciclopedia per tutti, Istituto Geografico De Agostini S.p.A., Novara, 1970;
- Various, Enciclopedia, UTET Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso S.p.A., Roma, 2003;
- Pazzaglia, Mario (1992). Letteratura Italiana. Vol. 3 (3 ed.). Bologna: Zanichelli.
- Colella, Massimo (2020). "Luigi Russo interprete di Vincenzo Cuoco. Un inedito corso universitario". Otto/Novecento. XLIV (2–3): 153–187.
Notes
- ^ Drozdowicz, Zbigniew (2013). Essays on European Liberalism. LIT Verlag Münster.
- ^ Caponigri, A R (2016). History and Liberty: The Historical Writings of Benedetto Croce. Routledge. p. 32.
- ^ a b Haddock, Bruce; Sabetti, Filippo (2014). "Vincenzo Cuoco. On Limits of Revolution and Constitutionalism". Rivista di Storia delle Idee. 3 (2): 114–132.
- ISBN 88-86521-73-1.
Further reading
- Gentile, Giovanni (1908). "Un discepolo di G. B. Vico: Vincenzo Cuoco pedagogista". Rivista pedagogica (in Italian). II: 161 ff.
- Russo, Luigi (1949). "Il Cuoco e il Foscolo interpreti di Machiavelli". Belfagor (in Italian). 4 (5): 505–512. JSTOR 26057461.
- De Tommaso, Piero (1974). "Il « Platone in Italia » del Cuoco". Belfagor (in Italian). 29 (4): 389–410. JSTOR 26142860.
- Parigi, Maristella (1977). "Per una rilettura del « Saggio storico sulla Rivoluzione Napoletana del 1799 » di Vincenzo Cuoco". Archivio Storico Italiano (in Italian). 135 (1/2): 217–256. JSTOR 26258749.
- Scuderi, Graziella (1995). Storicismo e pedagogia: Vico, Cuoco, Croce, Gramsci (in Italian). Armando Editore. p. 127. OCLC 34406165.
- Tessitore, Fulvio (2002). Filosofia, politica e storia in Vincenzo Cuoco. Lungro di Cosenza: Marco. ISBN 8885350941.
- Di Maso, Nunzia (2005). Il repubblicanesimo di Vincenzo Cuoco: a partire da Machiavelli. Forence: Centro Editoriale Toscano. ISBN 8879572318.
- Martirano, Maurizio (2011). A Milano e a Napoli. Biografia, cultura storica, filosofia in Vincenzo Cuoco. Milan: Mimesis. ISBN 9788857507309.
External links
- Themelly, Mario (1985). "CUOCO, Vincenzo". ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
- Millar, E. (2002). "Cuoco, Vincenzo". The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature. ISBN 978-0-19-818332-7. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
- Scrittori d'Italia is an authorised digital reproduction of some old editions the works of Vincenzo Cuoco published by Laterza. This includes Platone in Italia (1916 edition of volume I, 1924 edition of volume II), Saggio Storico sulla Rivoluzione Napoletana del 1799 (1913 edition), and Scritti Vari. (1924 edition of volume I, written while in Milan, and 1924 edition of volume II, written while in Naples).