Italiani senza padre: intervista sul Risorgimento

identities based on individual experiences in the context of the revolutions and the newly acquired civiI rights. Multiple allegiances and the patriotic fear of nationalism are the focus of Dominique Reill' s brilliant essay on the 'multinational' dimension of some Risorgimento protagonists, such as Niccolo Tommaseo, who had a Slavic-Dalmatian background. This group, like the Protestant Waldensians, were '[fascinated] with the idea of Europe that Chabod so famously discussed', not because of Mazzini's influence, but because of 'a broader, inherent concern of a post-Napoleonic generation with the idea of a holistic nation' (p. 266). (For a recent reassessment of the Waldensians see Maghenzani 2012.) In a way, the real conclusion of the volume comes in the penultimate chapter, in which Maurizio Isabella examines the origins ofthe Italian colonialist tradition. While a number ofother scholars, from Chabod to Gentile, have linked such tradition to the Risorgimento, they have tended to consider the problem in the light of later developments. By contrast, Isabella places it firmly it in the intellectual context in which it originated between the 1830s and 1871. Most patriots, with the partial exception of Cattaneo, preached about Italy's 'civilizing mission' and duty to 'invade and colonize Tunisian lands' (Mazzini in 1871, p. 248). This must give pause for thought, but also reminds us of the extent to which the men and the women of the Risorgimento were firmly rooted in, and limited by, the cultural assumptions of their age.