Histoire de l'Italie du Risorgimento à nos jours

by Sergio Romano

De tous les pays d'Europe, l'Italie est sans doute celui qui a fait l'entrée la plus fracassante dans la modernité. Le chemin qu'elle a emprunté n'est en effet semblable à aucun autre : tardivement unifiée, elle a connu au début du XXe siècle une très rapide industrialisation, tandis que le régime politique se démocratisait. Mais le traumatisme de la Première Guerre mondiale bouleversa tant le pays qu'il tomba aux mains de Mussolini, celui-ci ne parvenant pas à retenir les millions de pauvres qui émigrèrent. Après la chute du fascisme, cette société qu'on croyait exsangue connut une prodigieuse croissance économique, aussitôt qualifiée de miracle, tandis que la démocratie est en proie depuis lors à une crise politique quasi permanente. Comment comprendre ce paradoxe perpétuel, cette sorte d'équilibre instable qui semble avoir présidé aux destinées de l'Italie depuis un siècle et demi ? Sergio Romano se propose d'y répondre dans une synthèse aux analyses pertinentes, destinée à tous ceux, et particulièrement aux étudiants, qui veulent aborder l'histoire italienne depuis 1848 de manière à la fois claire et originale. --Thomas Ferrier

Genres: History, Italy, Nonfiction

416 pages, Pocket Book

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Diplomatico, storico e pubblicista italiano (n. Vicenza 1929). Studioso di storia, in particolare di quella italiana e francese tra Ottocento e Novecento, e analista politico, ha ricoperto i più prestigiosi incarichi della carriera diplomatica (la sua ultima missione fu quella di ambasciatore a Mosca fra il 1985 e il 1989, che lo rese testimone privilegiato della fine della guerra fredda). Dal 1998 è editorialista del Corriere della Sera.

Reviews

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This is an excellent political history of the Risorgimento (reunification/unification) of Italy from the 1850s to the 1990s. The writing has a strangely personal feel for a history book as the author gives his analyses of events throughout. This may sound off putting but instead I found that it drew me into the text, even when I found Romano's analysis to be questionable.
Another aspect of the book that could put one off is that Romano provides little context, possibly leaving the reader who has only a high-school/current media knowledge (like me) of Italy at a loss. He avoids this with a well written chronology appended to the end of the book. I would read ahead in the chronology prior to immersing myself in the text. It worked out very well. I came away from this book with the sense that I had a firm grasp of events in Italy over the last 150 years or so.

While not agreeing with all of Romano's analyses, I was fascinated by the problems that have continuously beset Italy. I have, since childhood, been taken by the fact that Italy was undergoing its Risorgimento in the same era that my own country, Canada, was undergoing its process of Confederation. It is interesting to read about the various myths in play in what now is Italy at the time of the Risorgimento. Canada, and I would guess most other colonies of the British Empire, only had the myth of Britannia and it has just faded away. Italy kept their myths of the Roman Empire and Royalty alive for a long time. It would seem that these founding myths have led to a lot of issues.

What Italy and Canada do have in common is the split between industrial regions and resource regions. I did not get a strong sense from Romano as to why, despite many attempts to correct the situation, the more rural regions to the south have not been able to share in the wealth of the northern regions. Regional economic disparities are always an issue in both countries. I suspect that sharing the wealth, no matter who's on top, is what has held Canada together and away from extremes. We have lots of ups and downs but few crises. (Let's not speak of language issues here.)

Enough of my rambling. If you want a review of the book, read Bertrand's excellent review. That's why I read the book.

[Marc Lamot]

Great read. Especially a history of ideas, no real political chronology. Aimed at rejecting the myths, especially in the Marxist history writing. Romano has a striking eye for continuities. The Postwar period is only meagerly treated. Central these: more than 100 years after the unification Italian politics still is focused on the formation of a unitary Italian society and State.

[Myriam]

Dommage qu'il ne dépasse pas le début des années 1980. Les analyses sont intéressantes et faciles à suivre pour les non-initiés aux subtilités politiques italiennes.
Lu comme complément à un cours universitaire sur l'histoire contemporaine italienne avec L'Italie de 1815 à nos jours, de Jean-Dominique Durand.