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| risorgimento italiano | |
|---|---|
| Name | Risorgimento |
| Native name | Risorgimento italiano |
| Caption | Giuseppe Mazzini |
| Start | Late 18th century |
| End | 1871 |
| Location | Italian Peninsula, Kingdom of Sardinia, Papal States, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies |
risorgimento italiano
The Risorgimento was the nineteenth‑century movement that led to the political unification of the Italian peninsula and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy under House of Savoy. It entwined the activism of revolutionaries such as Giuseppe Mazzini, the statecraft of dynasts such as Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour and military leadership like Giuseppe Garibaldi, with international interventions by powers including France, Austria, and the United Kingdom. The process spanned insurrections, wars, diplomatic negotiations and plebiscites that transformed the map shaped by the Congress of Vienna and the Napoleonic Wars.
The origins trace to the aftermath of the French Revolution, the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte and the administrative reforms introduced during the Napoleonic Wars, which affected the Kingdom of Naples, Piedmont-Sardinia, Lombardy–Venetia, and the Papal States. Intellectual currents from the Enlightenment, the writings of Giuseppe Mazzini, the secret societies of Carbonari, and the political experiments of the Carbonari uprisings and the Revolutions of 1820–1821 and Revolutions of 1830 fostered nationalist sentiment in cities like Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples. Economic changes linked to industrialization in Piedmont and agrarian crises in the Mezzogiorno created social pressures exploited by insurgent groups and liberal movements aligned with figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini, Carlo Alberto of Sardinia, and intellectuals publishing in periodicals like those of Giuseppe Mazzini's Young Italy.
Leading proponents included Giuseppe Mazzini (republicanism, Young Italy), Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (constitutional monarchy, Piedmontese reforms), and Giuseppe Garibaldi (popular campaigns, Expedition of the Thousand). Monarchs and statesmen such as Victor Emmanuel II, Charles Albert of Sardinia, and Napoleon III played decisive roles, while conservative clerical authority centered on Pope Pius IX and the Curia. Other notable participants were intellectuals and activists like Alessandro Manzoni, Silvio Pellico, Carlo Cattaneo, Daniele Manin, and military leaders including Lorenzo Valerio and Giuseppe Missori. Secret societies and political clubs such as the Carbonari, Young Italy, and the Società Nazionale Italiana provided organizational frameworks, alongside parliamentary deputies in the Parliament of Piedmont and civic leaders in cities like Bologna and Turin.
Key events included the Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states, the First Italian War of Independence (1848–1849) against Austrian Empire forces in Lombardy–Venetia, the Roman Republic (1849) proclaimed in Rome, and the suppression of uprisings by Austrian and Bourbon armies in Northern Italy and Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The diplomatic and military alliance between Piedmont-Sardinia and France resulted in the Second Italian War of Independence (1859) and victories at engagements associated with generals like Alessandro La Marmora; the Treaty of Villafranca and the Plombières Agreement influenced territorial transfers of Lombardy and Nice and Savoy. The Expedition of the Thousand (1860) led by Giuseppe Garibaldi toppled the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and resulted in the annexation of southern territories after plebiscites and negotiations with Victor Emmanuel II. The Third Italian War of Independence (1866), connected to the Austro-Prussian War, altered control over Venetia, and the capture of Rome in 1870 following Franco-Prussian War redeployment culminated in the incorporation of the Papal States.
The political consolidation combined parliamentary reforms in Piedmont-Sardinia under Cavour, military victories, diplomatic agreements like the Treaty of Zurich and administrative measures including plebiscites in Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and Naples. The proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 under Victor Emmanuel II followed annexations and votes in regional assemblies, while the later incorporation of Venetia (1866) and Rome (1870) completed territorial unification by 1871. Legal and institutional transitions involved integration of codes from Napoleonic precedents, parliamentary representation in the Italian Parliament, and tensions between the monarchy and the Holy See, which protested the loss of temporal power until the Lateran Treaty decades later.
Cultural figures such as Alessandro Manzoni, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Ugo Foscolo articulated national themes in literature, opera, and journalism, fostering patriotic sentiment across regions including Lombardy, Sicily, Campania, and Tuscany. Urbanization in Turin and Milan accelerated industrial networks and railways that connected markets from Genoa to Venice, while social movements, peasant revolts and brigandage in the south influenced debates involving Giuseppe Garibaldi, Cavour, and local elites. Educational reformers and historians such as Cesare Balbo and Gabriele Rossetti promoted national identity, and newspapers and periodicals from Giuseppe Mazzini's circles circulated rhetoric linking patriotism with civic virtue.
Unification occurred within European power politics involving Austria, France, Prussia, and the United Kingdom. Diplomatic maneuvers by Count Cavour engaged leaders such as Napoleon III at the Plombières meeting and negotiated terms in treaties like the Treaty of Turin and the Treaty of Villafranca. The shifting alliances during the Crimean War and the Austro‑Prussian War influenced Italian claims; the role of international volunteers and transnational networks of revolutionaries, including links to émigré communities in London, Paris, and Geneva, shaped external support and pressure. The papacy’s relations with France and interventions by the French Army in Rome until 1870 framed the final status of the Papal States.
Historiography has debated the Risorgimento’s character: as a liberal, bourgeois state‑building project championed by scholars like Ernest Gellner and John A. Davis, as a popular movement emphasized by revisionists referencing Giuseppe Garibaldi and southern resistance, or as a set of elite negotiations highlighted by studies of Cavour and the House of Savoy. Monuments, anniversaries, and operatic repertory—especially Verdi’s works—shaped national memory in institutions like the Italian Parliament and civic rituals in Rome and Milan. Scholarly debates continue over regional disparities in post‑unification development, the persistence of brigandage in the Mezzogiorno, and the long‑term consequences for Italian liberalism, the Catholic Church and later political movements including Italian Fascism.