Building a Civil Society : Associations, Public Life, and the Origins of Modern Italy

The most passionate advocates of Italy’s unification in the nineteenth century possessed an almost limitless faith in the benefits of civic association. They also shared a common concern: once Italian unification was achieved and various freedoms were established, would ordinary Italians naturally become responsible, progressive citizens – especially after centuries of foreign rule, regional division, and economic decline? Most unification advocates doubted that their fellow citizens could form a modern, progressive civil society on their own, or that a vibrant association life would develop from the ground up. Building a Civil Society is the first book-length English-language study of associational life in nineteenth-century Italy. Drawing on extensive research in published and unpublished documents – including associational records, newspapers, periodicals, government documents, guidebooks, exhibition catalogues, memoirs, and private letters – Steven C. Soper provides a complex account of Italian liberalism during Europe’s age of association. His study also raises important questions about the role that associations play in emerging democracies. The most passionate advocates of Italy's unification in the nineteenth century possessed an almost limitless faith in the benefits of civic association. They also shared a common concern: once Italian unification was achieved and various freedoms were established, would ordinary Italians naturally become responsible, progressive citizens - especially after centuries of foreign rule, regional division, and economic decline? Most unification advocates doubted that their fellow citizens could form a modern, progressive civil society on their own, or that a vibrant association life would develop from the ground up. Building a Civil Society is the first book-length English-language study of associational life in nineteenth-century Italy. Drawing on extensive research in published and unpublished documents - including associational records, newspapers, periodicals, government documents, guidebooks, exhibition catalogues, memoirs, and private letters - Steven C. Soper provides a complex account of Italian liberalism during Europe's age of association. His study also raises important questions about the role that associations play in emerging democracies Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 9 1 In Search of Associational Life 29 2 Poetry and Prose in the Risorgimento 60 3 A New Public 86 4 Popular Capitalism 118 5 Notable Politics 148 6 The Death of a Generation 172 7 Unknown Territory 193 Conclusion 212 Notes 219 Bibliography 281 Index 305