Sensibilities of the Risorgimento
Reason and Passions in Political Thought
Series:- Studies in the History of Political Thought, Volume: 12
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.
Biographical Note
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).
Table of contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Map
Introduction
1 Against the Passions of Revolution: Making the Moderate Sensibility, 1815–1848
2 Grand Vision, Minor Demands: The Themes and Sources of 1840s Moderatism
3 The Truths of the Heart: Passions, Sentiments, and Faith from Mazzini to Nievo
4 The Reason of the Elites: Constitutional Moderatism in the Kingdom of Sardinia, 1849–1861
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
List of Abbreviations
Map
Introduction
1 Against the Passions of Revolution: Making the Moderate Sensibility, 1815–1848
2 Grand Vision, Minor Demands: The Themes and Sources of 1840s Moderatism
3 The Truths of the Heart: Passions, Sentiments, and Faith from Mazzini to Nievo
4 The Reason of the Elites: Constitutional Moderatism in the Kingdom of Sardinia, 1849–1861
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Readership
All scholars, graduate students, and educated laymen interested in Italian history, in nineteenth-century political thought, and in the role of emotions in history.