The Risorgimento memorials in Lombardy

The A. talks about the conference "Memory in the town square. Risorgimento memorials in Lombardy between local identity and national identity" (Pavia University, Oct. 7, 2011), that has started off the historiographic discussion on the matter of the "patriotic statue-mania" (in Maurice Agulhon’s definition), a peculiar trait of the late Italian Nineteenth Century. Catherine Brice, in her introduction, outlined the political and ideological approaches which describe this phenomenon as a pillar of the post-unity nation-building. The following papers dealt with a number of statues commemorating the Risorgimento placed in the chief towns of the Lombard region, each A. examining a single monument not only with regard to its artistic and symbolic characters, but also as concerns the choice of the subjects and the artists, the problems of financing and the conduct of the inaugural and anniversary celebrations as well - all aspects relevant to the comprehension of the purposes and efficacy of a public monumentality meant as an operation of nation-building pedagogy.

Keywords: Pavia University, Catherine Brice, late Italian Nineteenth Century, Lombardy, public monumentality, nation-building pedagogy

Nicole Ciccolo, Perizia grafico-grafologica in "ITALIA CONTEMPORANEA" 265/2011, pp 627-644, DOI: 10.3280/IC2011-265007