Italians Celebrate 150 Years of Unity

     Today, Italians are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Risorgimento, the “resurgence,” the Unification of Italy. The Italian Republic is planning to observe this major event in world history with a series of commemorations this year.

     It may be surprising to many Americans to learn that there had never been an independent state ruled by Italians covering the Italian peninsula until 1861. From the Fall of Roman Empire in 476 A.D. until then, Italy was dominated by foreigners while Italians were also divided into many independent Italian states ruled by, nobles, the Pope or by the people in the form of small republics.

     Italians like Dante and Macchiavelli dreamed of a unified Italy. There was a feeling among the people of the Italian peninsula and Sicily of geographical, religious and cultural unity from their common ancient heritage, despite some differences in culture because of foreign influences. Meanwhile, Dante and Petrarch had helped to unify Italy linguistically by establishing the Tuscan dialect as a literary language instead of Latin. Tuscan, with influence from the Sicilian School of Poetry, thus gradually became the modern “Italian” language.

     Napoleon established a “Kingdom of Italy” that included northern Italy, but it was ruled by the French. Nevertheless, the idea of a foreign-ruled Italian state only increased Italian nationalism, the object of which was to unite the Italians.

     The revolt intended to unify Italy led by Giuseppe Mazzini in 1848 against the Austrians, who were dominating much of northern Italy by that point, failed. Eleven years later, however, the Savoyard King of Sardinia-Piedmont, Vittorio Emanuele II, began a new effort at unification when he traded Savoy to France for French help in driving the Austrians out of Lombardy. Other northern Italian states soon joined to his side, while Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Thousand overthrew the Spanish-ruled Kingdom of the Two Sicilies based in Naples by 1861. Garibaldi saluted Vittorio Emanuele as the first King of Italy. The Kingdom of Italy was declared on March 17, 1861.

     Venezia and the Tyrol were won from Austria in 1866 and the Papal States were added in 1870, at which point all Italian states were unified except for San Marino.

     The Unification of Italy served as a model for the reunification of Germany ten years later.

     After 1946, the monarchy was abolished and Italy became a Republic.

     I congratulate the Italians on their accomplishment and wish them continued unity.