Figure 1.--This is a photograph taken in Nuoro, a town in the northern interior. It is a cultural center where seceral autor and artists grew up. The photograph looks to have been taken in the ealy-20th century. It depicts a wedding procession art, although many in the street are clearly not part of it. Notice the begunning of some lind od slogan on the wall at the right. The first letter is a little faded, but it could be 'abbass[o]' (down with) -- the beginning of a protest slogan. The phitographer was Raffaele Ciceri (1870–1921), a local photographer. The photogrpher has captured the presence and difference of both the wealthy and the poorer classes in the same place. The Nuoro-born Danish writer Maria Giacobbe (1928–2024) tells us that his distinction was traditionally taken for granted. She shares some interesting details about her childhood. She came from a family of small landowners, and her father was an engineer. Because he opposed Fascism, he was forced to flee abroad furing the 1930s. This left his family in a precarious financial situation. Nevertheless, she belonged culturally and socially to the landowning class. When she started elementary school, meeting her classmates from the landless class was accompanied by mixed feelings. On the one hand, she envied those girls who were stronger than she was; on the other hand, she could not understand why they did not rebel against the humiliations they constantly endured because of their poor hygiene, ragged clothes, and so on. 【Giacobbe】

Italian unification was made possible by the the Second Italian War of Independence/Franco-Austrian War (1859). Chancellor Bismarck was involved as he wanted to break the historic Franco-Austrian alliance. The primary result was that Lombardy was annexed by Piedmont. Now Naples and Sicily (the Kingdom of Two Sicilies) remained outside of Piedmont (House of Savoy) control. The final major step in unification was Garibaldi beginning with a very small force (the Expedition of the Thousand) swept through Sicily and then crossing the Strait of Messina into southern Italy. He was warmly received by he population, but the intervention of the Royal Sardinian Army (actually the Sardo-Piedmontese Army) was needed to defeat the Neopolitans. This brought Naples and Sicily into a unified Kingdom. Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of a united Italy (1861). Had it not been for Sardinia, Victor Emanuel would have been a duke and not a king. An alliance with Prussia meant that the Veneto was obtained after the Austro-Prussian War (1866). Then finally Rome was annexed after the French garrison was withdrawn as a result of the Franco-Prussian War (1870). A major political figure was Count Cavour who quarreled with Garibaldi. The primary development was industrialization in the north and important infrastructure development. As the north developed, a major political issue became the Southern Question--disparities between the north and south. While not located in the south, Sardinia was essentially part of the Southern Question. This was the era of Scramble for Africa, Italy pursued colonial ventures in Africa, but became the only European nation to be defeated by an African army (1896). One might have thought that Italy would have addressed the Southern Question before pursuing African colonies, but this was not the case. Sardinia was part of the unified Italian nation, but as in the South, there was no important effort to address the inequities with the larger nation. Sardinia was not just any Italian province. The Islands geographic separation and its distinctive linguistic and cultural identity make it stand out. Something very different in the Italian body politics. This was especially the case in the 19th century before the advent of modern mass media. Given Sardinia's insular isolation it has been described as a 'forgotten' province. This gave rise over time to a growing desire for autonomy. Italy was part of the Triple Alliance (1882) becoming associated with the Central Powers. Italy did not, however, join the Central Powers when World War I broke out (1914). Given territorial claims in the Tyrol, Trentino, and Balkans (Istria), Italy joined the Allies -- Treaty of London (1915). The War had nothing to do with Sardinia, but the Italian Kingdom was destabilized by the War, the economic strain, battlefield losses, and failure to gain all of the territories anticipated. The Italian Kingdom did not end with the Fasixy seizure of power (1922) but effective control of the Itaian state did end. And most imprtantly for Sardinia, there was no major effort to assress the Southern Question.

Sources

Giacobbe, Maria. Maschere e Angeli Nudi: Il ritratto di un'infanzia Masks and Naked Angels: A Portrait of a Childhood (1999).

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Created: 5:03 PM 9/23/2026
Last updated: 5:03 PM 9/23/2026