Exile and Nationalism: The Case of the Risorgimento

Abstract

Italian nationalism was essentially the product of exile, as most Risorgimento patriots lived and published their work abroad after successive failed revolutions. Exile was turned by political refugees into one of the foundational myths of theRisorgimento as the narrative of the Italian nation fighting for independence. The article examines the different aspects of the representation of exile in political and literary texts, which justified exile as the only choice available when faced with despotism at home. It surveys the research on exile published after independence, and highlights how the mythical interpretation of exile developed in theRisorgimento-influenced historiography until the post-war period. Finally, it suggests that in order to understand the effects of exile on Italian identity formation, we need to study Italian nationalism as part of trans-national intellectual exchanges.