Concept

Italian nationalism

Summary
Italian nationalism is a movement which believes that the Italians are a nation with a single homogeneous identity, and therefrom seeks to promote the cultural unity of Italy as a country. From an Italian nationalist perspective, Italianness is defined as claiming cultural and ethnic descent from the Latins, an Italic tribe which originally dwelt in Latium and came to dominate the Italian peninsula and much of Europe. Because of that, Italian nationalism has also historically adhered to imperialist theories. The romantic (or soft) version of such views is known as Italian patriotism, while their integral (or hard) version is known as Italian fascism. Italian nationalism is often thought to trace its origins to the Renaissance, but only arose as a political force in the 1830s under the leadership of Giuseppe Mazzini. It served as a cause for Risorgimento in the 1860s to 1870s. Italian nationalism became strong again in World War I with Italian irredentist claims to territories held by Austria-Hungary, and during the era of Italian Fascism. The origins of Italian nationalism have been traced to the Renaissance where Italy led a European revival of classical Greco-Roman style of culture, philosophy, and art. Italian Nationalism first developed not among the general populace but among the intellectual elites of various Italian states. In 1344 Petrarch wrote the famous patriotic canzone “Italia mia” (Rime 128), in which he railed against the warring petty lords of Italy for having yielded the country up to barbarian German fury (ʻla tedesca rabbia’, line 35) and called for peace and unification. Around the same time, Cola di Rienzo attempted to unite the whole of Italy under the hegemony of Rome. In 1347 he assumed the title of “Libertatis, Pacis Iustitiaeque Tribunus, et Sacrae Romanae Rei Publicae Liberator.” Petrarch hailed him in his famous song “Spirto gentil che quelle membra reggi” as the reincarnation of the classical spirit.
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