This book presents the process of shaping a national-patriotic movement in Italy during the first half of the nineteenth century, which culminated in the construction of a unified Italian state.
It is a story that fits into a broad context of European dimensions but extends beyond Europe as well. The idea of the nation was the symbolic system that guided this conflictual political and cultural experience.
The term nazione (nation), derived from the Latin word natio, was widely used during the Middle Ages and modern times. However, during those periods, it was not part of the political vocabulary, but only in a incidental and marginal way.
Only during the intense political and philosophical discussions in eighteenth-century Europe did this term acquire a new meaning — but not only that: it found itself at the heart of the new politics inaugurated by the two revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century, as it indicated a new collective subject in which sovereignty was inherent.
Initially, the Risorgimento movement was weak, fragmented, and barely rooted in the cities, let alone in the countryside. [...] Thus, the Risorgimento movement was a mission impossible.
And yet, those who initially viewed things this way would ultimately be forced to change their minds: as happened in other cases in Europe, a movement that seemed doomed to fail managed to prevail, leading to the establishment of a state for the Italian nation.
