Description:
A purely political framework does not capture the complexity of the culture behind Italians' struggle for liberty and independence during the Risorgimento (1815-1861). Roberto Romani identifies the sensibilities associated with each of the two main political programmes, Mazzini's republicanism and moderatism, which in fact were comprehensive projects for a political, moral, and religious resurgence. The moderates' espousal of reason entailed an ideal personality expressed by private virtue, self-possession, and a public morality informed by Catholicism, while Mazzini's advocacy of passions led to 'enthusiasm' and a total commitment to the cause. Romani demonstrates that the patriots' moral quest rested on a thick cultural bedrock, dating back to Stoicism and the Catholic Aufklärung, and passing through Rousseau and the Revolution.
Brief description: Roberto Romani, Ph.D. (1990), is an Associate Professor in the History of Economic Thought at the University of Teramo (Italy). He was a Research Fellow at the Centre for History and Economics, King's College, Cambridge, in 1995-8, and a Member of the School of History at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, in 2014. His publications include National Character and Public Spirit in Britain and France, 1750-1914 (Cambridge University Press, 2002).