What is the Risorgimento, and what is its significance today?
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, the Risorgimento, a constant theme in reflections on the nation's identity, has re-emerged as more divisive than unifying. Italians, still not 'made,' therefore appear estranged from a univocal identification of the entire population, ready to recognize themselves rather in configurations that seem to refer back to the pre-unitary states.
At the same time, a reflection has been stimulated that has highlighted the weight of memory that places the history of Italy in a constructive path based on the positive value of diversity, for the contribution of ideas, of women and men, to a discourse shared at an international level, capable of giving rise to 'Risorgimentos' in various parts of the world.
The wealth of ideal motivations and collective involvement are aspects to be re-proposed as a 'daily plebiscite' capable of filtering the contradictions of the present.
Why are the objects on display representative of the Risorgimento today? What is their evocative and testimonial power today?
The flyers, with short, immediate texts, often written in dialect and in verse, published thanks to the freedom of the press granted in revolutionary moments, express a changing world and a Risorgimento shared by broad social strata.
Capable of widespread dissemination and with low costs, not only among the literate, they qualify a nineteenth-century 'mass,' involved through the reading of texts by popularizers, in the streets, in the squares, in bars and in occasional places. Through multiple levels of reception, they contribute to the formation of public opinion.
Their revisitation is therefore functional to the knowledge of a more articulated society compared to that of high politics and international diplomacy, as well as to the creation of a heritage of popular and musical rhythms, often taken up by the contemporary world as well.
Renata De Lorenzo, President | Neapolitan Society of National History
