Revolution and feelings

The recent fragmentation of the political landscape and the increasing uncertainty of its boundaries have made historians more acutely aware that politics does not exist only ‘high up’ and on the macro level but reaches deep into the private lives of people, shapes their identities and perceptions, influences their thoughts and emotions, regulates and modifies their behaviour. This makes the public/private divide a starting point from which to explore the multiple layers of politics. This is the perspective adopted in this Special Issue, that is dedicated to forms of revolutionary militancy in nineteenth and twentieth century Italy. Indeed, few other historiographical events are better suited than revolution and its concrete manifestation in history to be investigated from the perspective of private experiences, feelings, and emotions. The aim of these papers is, therefore, to describe the different Italian revolutionary cultures from the nineteenth century until the 1970s, analysing on the one hand the intersection between history and individual stories and on the other the emotional substratum of politics.