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HUI216 Italian Civilization Andrea Fedi HUI216 (Spring 2008) 1 3.1 Chronology • We can simplify the more-than-2000 years of Italian civilization that we will study by grouping historical, social and cultural events under three headings The Latin or Roman era The Middle Ages Renaissance and Modernity HUI216 2 3.1 Chronology • Each one of those periods covers several centuries and includes different cultures and different sociopolitical structures • This periodization • may hide the complexity of Italian civilization's actual developments and manifestations • however, it becomes useful when following major trends and cultural patterns, or trying to sort out and absorb information related to a variety of topics HUI216 3 3.2 The Roman/Latin Era (753 BCE-476 CE) 753 BCE: Rome is founded (monarchy) In ancient Rome years were often counted from this date, whenever the name of a leader (king, consul, emperor) was not used as a reference "under the consulate of Appius Claudius Sabinus and T. Quinctius Capitolinus" "283 ab urbe condita" (=491 BCE) Archeological excavations have confirmed that the city of Rome was indeed founded during the eighth century BCE Apr. 21, 753 is the date that ancient Romans agreed on HUI216 4 3.2 "Ab urbe condita": from the foundation of the city • Emperor Hadrian's golden coin celebrating the 874th birthday of the city of Rome (121 CE) • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Im age:Aureus_-_Adriano__RIC_0144.jpg • Coin from CNG coins (www.cngcoins.com) • Coin struck under Emperor Philip the Arab (248 CE), celebrating the beginning of the second millennium of Rome HUI216 5 3.2 509 BCE-1453 CE: important dates in Roman civilization 509 BCE is the traditional date for the institution of the Roman Republic, accepted and passed on by Roman historians 27 BCE: the Roman Empire is born 476 CE: the Roman Empire ends (in Italy and in the West) 1453 CE: the Byzantine Empire (formerly Eastern Roman Empire) ends in the East • Even under the Romans, Italy was not unified politically and administratively until the beginning of the Empire HUI216 6 3.2 East and West at the end of the Roman Empire (map) HUI216 7 3.3 The Middle Ages (476-1375 CE): the first period From the 4th to the 10th century (first period) The most important historic developments were the collapse of the Roman Empire and the introduction of Feudalism It was an era of continued wars, fought frequently and for short periods in different regions of Western/Southern Europe Feudalism was the socio-political institution created to make the best use of the limited resources available in the local communities, while defending the residents from those sudden, repeated attacks HUI216 8 3.3 The Middle Ages (476-1375 CE): the second period From the 11th to 14th century After the year 1000 the Italian regions North of Rome saw the emergence of dozens of small city-states the area that best exemplifies this phenomenon is Northern Tuscany In the South, which was soon unified and eventually became the kingdom of Naples, a similar fragmentation was maintained by the survival of feudal structures (which in some areas extended into the 19th century) HUI216 9 3.3 The Middle Ages (476-1375 CE): the South during the second period Many small districts of the South were administered by members of the nobility each one had slightly different rules of justice, implemented different strategies and administrative policies the economy for the most part remained local, with little or no commerce and trading outside each district a partial but relevant exception is represented by the cities on the shores of Campania, Apulia [Puglia], and Sicily HUI216 10 3.3 The preservation of medieval culture and the revival of medieval traditions in Tuscany • Medieval architecture and the modern politics of restoration (XIX-XX c.) • The success of Romanticism in Italy, and his fascination with medieval history, prompted the multiplication of architectural projects bringing back the gothic style, or the more austere style of Romanesque, together with construction or reconstruction of watch towers, pseudomedieval palaces and castles • Give a look at The house of Dante in Florence, built entirely during the XIX century, on the grounds where Dante's real house had been HUI216 11 3.3 The preservation and the celebration of medieval culture in Tuscany • This predilection for medieval architecture was carried over into the next century; the next slides offer examples of that preference, at the expense of other styles • San Bartolomeo is a church whose interior was stripped of baroque altars to restore a pure Romanesque look • Pistoia's Palazzo dei Vescovi was heavily modified to bring it back to the way it was during the Middle Ages, thus erasing the memory of the many additions and changes that were made through the centuries HUI216 12 3.3 San Bartolomeo in Pantano (St. Bartholomew in the swamp, Pistoia), XII c. HUI216 13 3.3 Antico Palazzo dei Vescovi (Older Bishop's Palace, Pistoia, XIII c.) HUI216 14 3.3 Neo-guelphism • During the 19th century, pro-Papacy political proposals received new attention in Italy, thanks to intellectuals such as Vincenzo Gioberti, author of Del Primato civile e morale degli Italiani (=The civic and moral primacy of the Italians, 1842-43) • the myth of Italy's primacy: having led the world twice, in ancient and in medieval times, Italy could do so a third time, in a civic and moral sense • Gioberti set forth a neo-Guelph program that called for reforms and a federation of existing Italian states, with the Pope as president • source: http://www.ohiou.edu/~Chastain/dh/giob.htm HUI216 15 3.3 Maurice Hewlett and the Anglo-American travelers from the early 1900s • Anglo-American travel writers from the late 1800s and the early 1900s often managed to find in Tuscany not just ruins and the memories of the past, but the vestiges and living traces of legendary periods, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance • Their assumption was seen as the perfect 'laboratory' to rediscover what life was like in a pre-modern civilization, because of the following • • • • • the homogeneous history of most Tuscan towns their medieval origins as independent city-states (comuni) the long-lasting fights and the rebellions against Florence the alleged lack of modern progress/industrial development the seemingly reduced social mobility HUI216 16 3.3 Maurice Hewlett and Tuscany: nature, history, race (The Road in Tuscany [1904] 1.6) • Tuscany [...] is a geographical expression, useful to cover all the nations who have seethed and settled between the Apennines and the Tiber • There were scores and fifties of these [...]; indeed [...] every little white-washed village on every little olive-blurred hill was at one time or another, in all essential respects, a "nation" sufficient unto itself • Whether there had been in the dim backward of time a kinship, a community, a tie between the man of Volterra and the man of Grosseto, or between the man of little Pistoja and the man of little Certaldo [...] one neither knows nor need care HUI216 17 3.3 The selective gaze of Anglo-American travelers from the early 1900s • James Buzard, the author of a 1993 essay entitled The Beaten Track. European Tourism, Literature, and the Ways to Culture, 1800-1918, aptly talks about a process of "strategic omission" inside the tradition of nineteenth-century "picturesque seeing" • "Everyday features of the visited place (populations included) either fell cleanly away from view or arranged themselves as part of the spectacle" (PMLA 34) • "The gradual improvements in standard of living, the mundane political struggles, the ordinary commerce, and all the many other unpicturesque pursuits were what travelers sought to elide from the view they savored" (PMLA 35) HUI216 18 3.4 Humanism (1375-1475): culture and the arts The systematic, rigorous study of classicism philology, archeology the first museums, important private libraries studies and reports Raphael's "Letter to Pope Leo X on the monuments of ancient Rome" Palladio's Rome A new education curriculum literature and history become primary assets, to be used to teach about human nature HUI216 19 3.4 Humanism (1375-1475): socio-political structures The Signorie (Signori=Lords) the patricians or the wealthiest merchants take charge in the administration of the city-states a slow process of unification brings neighboring city-states under one ruler (called the Signore), and one government communes of Northern Tuscany: under Florence (see map) and the Medici family communes of Veneto: under the Republic of Venice communes of Lombardy: under Milan and the Viscontis or the Sforzas HUI216 20 3.4 The Renaissance (1476-1550): political events (see map) The wars of Italy (1494-1559) the slow process of unification created local conflicts and diplomatic incidents on a national and international level this process was hindered and then eventually brought to a halt by the involvement of France, Spain and Germany in Italian politics after a long series of costly wars the South of Italy, Lombardy and a small portion of Southern Tuscany fell in the hands of Spain, while small portions of the Northeast and of the Northwest went to France and Germany HUI216 21 3.4 Renaissance (1476-1550): political events The political and military events of this period had repercussions that lasted for three centuries Once many Italian states submitted directly or indirectly to foreign powers, it became more difficult to create a modern unified nation Bringing Italy under one ruler and one government required a great deal of diplomatic maneuvering, together with military actions and popular insurrections HUI216 22 3.5 Modernity (1551-1861): culture and politics Mannerism and Baroque (1551-1700) Breaking away from a systematic imitation/emulation of classical standards The influence of France and Spain. Machiavellism, Reason of State The Enlightenment (1701-1815) The vanishing of the Italian leadership from the European cultural scene (with the exception of music); the diminished role of the Italian economy Romanticism and the Risorgimento (1816-61) the development of the individual linked to the development of a politically mature society HUI216 23 3.5 The last 150 years: national unification (1861-1871) • 1861 • the Kingdom of Italy is established under the Savoia family, originally Dukes of Piedmont • look at a map of Italy at the time of unification, and in 1882 • 1871 • Rome becomes Italy's third and final capital (after Turin and Florence): in 1870 the city was taken from the Pope during a quick war • Many Italians felt that the process of unification was more similar to a process of conquest • The new local administrators (often from the North) were seen as representatives of a 'foreign' government • Many failed to identify with the new national State and did not develop a strong sense of loyalty to the national institutions HUI216 24 3.5 The two World Wars, Fascism • World War I (1915-1918) was the first real chance for millions of Italians from various regions to share crucial experiences • Like military draft, which involved the process of relocation, the war offered the opportunity to appreciate the extent of cultural/linguistic differences • The desire for the concrete realization of common national goals translated into fascist ideology • 1919 • the process of unification of the Italian peninsula is completed with WWI peace treaties (see map) • Italy changed again following WWII: small territories at the borders are assigned toHUI216 former Yugoslavia, France 25 3.5 The Republic (1946- ) • 1946 • Italy becomes a Republic after an institutional referendum in which the monarchy lost by a narrow margin (approx. 2 million votes) • Since it was clear that local identities and regional cultures had never lost their strength, the constitution of the Italian republic, introduced officially in 1948, recommended that regions be given ample autonomy HUI216 26 3.6 The autonomy of regions recognized by the Italian constitution (from http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/it00000_.html) • Article 114 [Municipalities, Provinces, Metropolitan Cities, Regions, State] • (1) The republic consists of municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities, regions, and the state • (2) Municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities, and regions are autonomous entities with their own statutes, powers, and functions according to the principles defined in the constitution HUI216 27 3.6 Special Forms of Autonomy recognized by the Italian constitution • Article 116 [Special Forms of Autonomy] • (1) According to their special statutes adopted by constitutional law, particular forms and conditions of autonomy are enjoyed by Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Southern Trentino, and the Aosta Valley • (2) The region Southern Trentino consists of the autonomous provinces Trento and Bolzano • (3) Upon the initiative of the region concerned, after consultation of local administrations, state law may assign further particular forms and conditions of autonomy to other regions according to the principles laid down in Art. 119 HUI216 28 3.6 State and Regional Legislative Power in the Italian constitution • Article 117 [State and Regional Legislative Power] • (1) Legislative power belongs to the state and the regions in accordance with the constitution and within the limits set by European union law and international obligations. • (2) The state has exclusive legislative power in the following matters... • (3) The following matters are subject to concurrent legislation of both the state and regions... HUI216 29 3.6 Federalism in Italian politics • Between 2001 and 2005 the Italian Parliament took important steps (including an initiative to reform the Constitution) to introduce a more defined form of federalism in Italy • The 20 Italian Regions (each organized with a Regional Council, a Governor, and regional laws) now have more power and more control over internal as well as national matters HUI216 30 3.6 Federalism: the Northern League • Umberto Bossi is the founder/leader of the Lega Nord (visit the site of the Northern League party) • The Northern League is a party born in the 1980s to promote the idea of an Italian federation • According to the its ideology, the Northern regions should be largely independent from the central government (in areas such as taxation and tax redistribution, education, immigration, law enforcement) • They should be able to introduce tougher measures against illegal immigrants, and other policies for the 'protection' and the advancement of Northern Italian culture HUI216 31 3.6 The reform of the Constitution proposed by the Northern League (2005): the federal Senate • Art. 57 of the proposed new constitution • the Senate becomes federal, with electoral districts based on the 20 regions of Italy • the election of the senators is linked to the elections of the regional and provincial councils • the number of senators assigned to each region is linked to the number of residents • no region can have less than 6 senators, with the exception of Molise (2) and Valle d'Aosta (1) • representatives of the regions and local provinces are admitted into the Senate, without full voting rights HUI216 32 3.6 Federalism and the reform of the Constitution: the Assembly of the Republic • Art. 83 of the 2005 proposal • the President of the Italian Republic is elected by an Assembly of the Republic, composed by • all members of the parliament • the heads of the regions and provinces • regional delegates • 2 per region (1 in the case of Valle d'Aosta) • each region is also assigned 1 delegate for every million residents HUI216 33 3.6 Bilingual street signs have become popular, esp. in districts controlled by the Northern League HUI216 34 HUI216 35