Between Rhetoric and Engagement: The Image of Italy in Literature from Unification to Verismo

This special issue contributes to the ongoing debate surrounding the con-troversial legacy of the Risorgimento, with the aim of fostering a deeper understand-ing of the construction of the Italian nation-state through perspectives that depart from the dominant paradigms of post-unification Italian culture. Far from constitut-ing a settled myth, the Risorgimento remained a persistent site of tension from the early 1860s onwards. Both materially and symbolically, the image of Italy became a visible arena in which the transition from patriotic idealism, shaped by heroic narra-tives and teleological interpretations, to a profound disenchantment brought about by modernity unfolded. The critical reappraisal of the Risorgimento imaginary took place within a rapidly changing cultural system in which theatre and, above all, liter-ature relinquished part of their autonomy in order to engage with the new media en-vironment created by the expansion of the periodical press. From this perspective, the contributions gathered in this issue examine how intellectuals and writers redefined key categories such as the people, power and the nation, dismantling the conventions of celebratory rhetoric in order to identify the contours of a social and historical “truth” far more complex than that conveyed by established national narratives.