Il Risorgimento oltremanica. Nazionalismo cosmopolita nei meeting britannici di metà Ottocento

Author(s)
Elena Bacchin
Abstract

The article deals with the pro-Italian public meetings and lectures held in Great Britain from 1847 to 1864. Using contemporary British newspaper articles, private correspondence and archives, and diaries it examines the form, location, and frequency of the various philo-Italian activities; it explores the social profile of some leading speakers, the composition of the audience and its reactions, and the symbols displayed during the meetings. Pro-Italian activities, which were part of a more general platform supporting the struggle of foreign oppressed nationalities, helped creating and spreading the Italian national-patriotic discourse in Britain. The analysis of the platform, shedding lights on the issue of the mass participation and involvement in nationalistic movements, reveals the existence, in mid-Victorian Britain, of a widespread pro-Italian opinion actively endorsing the cause of Italian unification.

Organisation(s)
Department of History
Journal
Contemporanea. Rivista di storia dell'800 e del '900
Volume
16
Pages
173-202
ISSN
1127-3070
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1409/34491
Publication date
2011
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
601005 European history
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/b5708ac6-b40d-40a1-9d54-3274cba1fcea