Italian identity

The Italian identity is one of the main debated issues in Italy at present. Created by the historians Gian Enrico Rusconi and Ernesto Galli Della Loggia in the 1990s, the problem is still very discussed nowadays.

Political identity

Italy is a relatively recent country in the Western world. It was born only in 1860. After having been the Kingdom of Italy for nearly one century (1860–1946), it became the Italian Republic in 1946. This very recent development of the Italian democracy (only a bit more than half a century) has been regarded as a sign of backwardness. The Italian political identity is therefore very weak and there is not a political system generally accepted. The polemics between monarchists and republicans, fascists and antifascists, Christian democrats and communists reveal a very divided country, with strong political feelings, but without a common background.

Ethnic identity

The Italians come all from the same ethnic group, but do not share a sense of commonality or fraternity. History instead has developed a sense of municipality rather than that of nationality. Italians identify themselves more as a citizen of his city rather than as a citizen of Italy. Conflicts among the different cities remain very strong, as proved by the strong football rivalries which can be traced from the history of its Medieval city-states.

Religious identity

One of the main principles of national unity has often been considered the Christian religion, because Italy has been Christian since the settlement of the Papal States in Rome. Many Italians, however, would not recognize themselves as Christian. Especially during the Risorgimento, in the 19th Century, the birth of the nation was linked to popular revolutions, such as the American revolution and the French revolution.

References

Bibliography

Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (ed.), The invention of tradition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984
Aldo Schiavone, Italiani senza Italia, Torino: Einaudi, 1998
Remo Bodei, Il Noi diviso, Torino: Einaudi, 1998
Ernesto Galli della Loggia, L'identità italiana, Bologna: il Mulino, 1998
Guido Crainz, Il paese mancato : dal miracolo economico agli anni Ottanta, Roma: Donzelli, 2003
Stefano Jossa, L'Italia letteraria, Bologna: il Mulino, 2006

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