ITALIAN REPUBLICANISM AND THE TRIENNIO, 1790s

Between 1796 and 1799, based on strategic considerations and ideological imperatives, a series of ‘sister republics,’ constitutionally modelled on that of the French Republic, was established across the Italian peninsula following the advent of the French military into the peninsula under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte. These 3 years, collectively known in Italy as the Triennio , were widely considered a transformative period in the history of the peninsula. During this period, many local reformers and patriots were inspired by the ideals and practices of the French Revolution and adapt its experience in local circumstances. In particular, one aspect was the formulation of a unitary Italian national identity along republican lines and implementation of radical social changes. Considering the violent collapse of these ‘republics’ by 1799 and indigenous resentments toward the Napoleonic military presence, along with the dashed hopes of many of the patriots, this period has raised an interesting debate amongst historians on the extent of the influence of the French Revolution upon the Italian peninsula in the 1790s and how much the experience of that Revolution informed a distinct Italian republicanism. Furthermore, it is a question of how Italian republicans viewed how the Revolution unfolded itself in France, especially the Terror and how much of an impact did that period changed the opinions of Italian patriots towards the French version of republicanism as a result of revolutionary ruptures. Along those lines, as the Italian peninsula at this point, was an amalgamation of various polities with strong regional identities entangling with supposedly a common cultural heritage, it is also a question of what kind of unitary Italian state did these patriots envisioned. As there is also a North-South dynamic to this question, the experience of southern Italy, especially that of Naples, would be taken into consideration. Thus, this presents the historical problem of balancing ‘emulation’ and ‘adaptation’ of foreign models upon a local context, especially when one considers the long tradition of Italian republican thinking which predates the French Revolution and how did these traditions intertwined with that of the French experience, with regards to eighteenth century Enlightenment thinking, in general. Through examining the existing scholarship and a range of primary sources, with the emphasis on a selection of Italian language newspapers and writings during the Triennio , this essay aims to assess the impact of the experience of the French Revolution, which encompasses Napoleonic presence, upon the conceptualisation of a unitary Italian republicanism by the end of the eighteenth century. Moreover, this paper also sought to examine the historical social-economic and cultural conditions, domestically and internationally, that result in these political and intellectual ruptures. Furthermore, to re-assess the historical legacy of the Triennio upon the political development on the Italian peninsula in an age of democratic revolutions and beyond.

In order to understand how the experience of the French Revolution informed Italian Republicanism during the Triennio, it is useful to have an overview of the general historiography. The period between 1796 and 1799, collectively known as the Triennio, witnessed a series of ‘sister republics’ whose constitutions modelled on that of the French Directory being established across the Italian peninsula, from North to South, as byproducts of the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802 under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte based on military strategic considerations and at least at a propaganda level, ideological imperatives to export the ideals and practices of the French Revolution further afield. Notwithstanding that, the invasion of the Italian peninsula by Napoleon’s Army of Italy and the subsequent formation of these ‘sister republics’ raised the hopes and expectations of local revolutionaries, referring to themselves as ‘patriots,’ who were well-versed in Enlightenment thinking and followed the French Revolution since its inception with considerable interests. From there, they aspired to radical transformation of society, more or less along the French line and envisioned a unitary Italian republic. Previously, several aspects of this period was not given considerable treatment to the point of neglect by scholars within Italy and abroad, especially after the collapse of these ‘sister republics’ by 1799. For example, in the 1801 work by provincial government official Vincenzo Cuoco, Saggio storico sulla Rivoluzione napoletana, following the collapse of the Neapolitan Republic, saw the Neapolitan revolutionary experience as that of a ‘passive revolution’, in which the imported ideals of the French Revolution were inapplicable to local circumstances and those who espoused them, referring to the patriots, failed to communicate with the masses and only seemed to serve foreign interests. While this interpretation is explicitly referring to the Neapolitan case, it could also be applicable to the other ‘republics,’ as in the case of the Cisalpine Republic, which was viewed in a more negative light than its Neapolitan counterpart as exemplifying subordination to the will of the French Directory. In essence, the immediate legacy of the Triennio and the importation of French Revolutionary ideals and practices on Italian soil along with its advocates were clouded in anti-French sentiments within a conservative nationalist lense and subsequently overshadowed by the exploits of the mid-nineteenth century, that culminated in the eventual unification of the Italian peninsula à la Risorgimento.

However, there has been a considerable shift towards a more balanced assessment of the Triennio within the historiography since the end of the Second World War (WWII) in 1945. In particular, this reassessment has been fueled by Italian historians’ interest in utopianism, socialism and radicalism as a result of the politics of wartime resistance, not to mention the establishment of a post-war Italian Republic, which generated space for tracing the historical development of Italian republicanism and the question of perceptions toward the French model. Furthermore, the publication of the two Italian newspapers of the Triennio era, the Giornale de’ patrioti d’Italia and the Termometro politico della Lombardia in the 1980s allowed historians to examine the evolution of Italian political thoughts in the printing press. In terms of English-language scholarship, the work of Stuart Woolf in the late 1970s on Italian political history from the start of the eighteenth century until 1860, gives considerable attention to the impact and reception of the French Revolution on the Italian peninsula during the Triennio and the historical context that gave rise to revolutionary ruptures. In particular, the Italian Jacobins were allocated greater prominence, as part of a ‘new generation’ whose beliefs and visions marked a radical departure from pre-revolutionary reformist thinkers. However, his contribution is limited in the sense that it places the events of Triennio within a grand narrative of the origin of the Risorgimento with focus on the limits of social and political changes, rather than examining the former on its intellectual terms and without going in depth into how the experience of the French Revolution informed Italian Republicanism, in terms of circulation and mutation of political thoughts. Other works, such as those from Anna Maria Rao within both the English and French-language historiography, sought to fill this gap through focus on the thoughts and actions of Italian patriots within the context of revolutionary process during this period and the intertwining of French and Italian cultural traditions as a result of the establishment of the ‘sister republics’, which resulted in intellectual ruptures.5 Furthermore, while the example of the Neapolitan Republic remained highly referenced in the historiography of the Triennio , John A. Davis’s work on the place of Naples in revolutionary Europe puts new lights upon political developments in Naples and southern Italy, particularly the emergence of Jacobin political thoughts and the context which gave rise to these developments before the establishment of the Neapolitan Republic in 1799.6 However, with allusion to Woolf, there is also an imbalance between socio-military and intellectual history, which misses an opportunity to articulate upon how reformers and patriots from the South debated the the French revolutionary experience and its suitability to local circumstances. Thus, there is potential for a comparative approach between the thoughts and actions of the patriots of the two ‘Italies.’ As a result of the contemporary turn towards a transnational writing of history, especially in terms of re-defining the impact of French Revolution in a global age of democratic revolutions in the late eighteenth century, there is a potential of viewing the Italian revolutionary experience in the years of the Triennio as being part of a larger ‘revolutionary Mediterranean,’ which was conceptualised by Italian patriots such as Matteo Galdi, who advocated for a federation of the sister republics and Mediterranean countries in the Triennio years. Thus, this approach allows for looking at ways Italian republican thinkers viewed the experience of the French Revolution on more expansive terms beyond their immediate borders. For the purpose of this paper and based on availability of sources, however, its main focus would be on how Italian patriots aimed to use the French Revolution to advance changes in their own immediate context.

In general, the historiography of the Triennio has shifted considerably in the last 70 years, especially in terms of understanding the thoughts and actions of local actors towards the French Revolution. At the same time, this paper sought to contribute to this expanding scholarship through examining the question of how the experience of the French Revolution, which would take into account of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic presence in Italy, informed a distinct form of Italian Republicanism in the late eighteenth century . Thus, it would not focus on the limitations and weaknesses of the Italian revolutionaries, as previous scholarship have done, but more on their perception of the French experience. Furthermore, it would also be an inquiry into the intertwining of imported political models with pre-existing intellectual traditions during this transformative period.

In order to answer this question, firstly, one must trace the development of the Italian political thoughts before the establishment of the ‘sister republic,’ if we were to consider the Triennio as a period of revolutionary rupture on the Italian peninsula and to periodise the French Revolution as a whole as beginning from 1789 until Napoleon’s coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799, coinciding with the collapse of the Italian republics. When looking at pre-revolutionary discourses, it is without a doubt that the peninsula was at the very heart of the Enlightenment movement that was sweeping Europe in the eighteenth century. In particular, within a pan-Italian context, as seen in their writings, many prominent thinkers began to envision a revival of the former glories of Italy through the actions of enlightened government based on the principle of virtue. For example, the poet Giuseppe Parini, in his 1773 Firmian essay, expressed belief in the capability of enlightened rulers, in this case, the Austrian rulers of Lombardy, to take up measures that would encourage a revival of Italian art and culture. Whilst the political vision professed in these writings remained moderate in nature due to their confidence in the monarch’s ability to rule in an ‘enlightened’ manner, they are well-placed within the canon of Enlightenment reformist thinking that was omnipresent in Europe in the pre-revolutionary years. At the same time, what became more noticeable was an increasing notion of a pan-Italian cultural identity, whilst not yet advocating territorial unification. This can be seen in one of the writings by Piedmontese scholar Gian Francesco Galeani Napione, in which he expressed resentment against the predominance of French language and culture and arguing for greater use of the Italian language in the public sphere as a demonstration of cultural independence.9 Without reading too much into the text, what is visible is the hostility towards French cultural dominance, juxtaposing with an increasing sense of linguistic patriotism gives an indication of Italian attitudes, at a literary level, towards French cultural dominance during this period as part of the formation of a national identity, which serves as a precedent to how Italian patriots viewed the experience of the French Revolution later on with the establishment of the ‘sister republics’ in the 1790s. Furthermore, this anti-French sentiment also informed Italian nationalist historiography on this period.

With regards to republicanism, whilst scholars debate the dynamic of continuity and rupture in the development of republican paradigm, considering the emphasis on an Italian republican tradition since classical antiquity to the Renaissance, that also underwent gradual reinterpretation and regeneration, the outbreak of the French Revolution and subsequent events since 1789 contributed to a fundamental shift in Italian republican paradigm, a shift that Anna Maria Rao also attributes to the outbreak of the American Revolution on the other side of the Atlantic.However, arguably, the French Revolution had a larger impact upon the development of the Italian republicanism in the late eighteenth century, partly due to geographical proximity. As the Revolutionary process spanned over most of the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century and to understand the Italian revolutionary experience, it is important to trace Italian attitudes towards the Revolution from the early 1790s. Amongst Italian intellectuals, especially moderates, it could be said the outbreak of the Revolution was positively received with its emphasis on natural rights and popular sovereignty, thus attracted considerable interests, especially many have previously expressed disillusionment with the limited scope of reforms in the previous decades. For example, the Italian peninsula was represented in the international deputation of thirty-six foreigners led by Jean-Baptise Cloots to the National Assembly on June 19, 1790, which symbolises the possibility of revolutionary universalism and the transmission of the French Revolutionary ideals further afield. Thus, the Italian presence in the deputation demonstrates the initial enthusiasm for the French Revolution. However, the lack of written sources from the Italian deputy(ies) limits our understanding in their views of the Revolution and its potential for implicating changes back home. At the same time, one could also point to a letter, dated from 1 November 1792, written by an unnamed Italian expatriate living in Paris at the time and finally published in 1796 over a number of issues in the journal Termometro politico della Lombardia, one of the many journals published following the establishment of the ‘sister republics’, which praised the French Revolution as ‘... the inevitable effect of the progress of Reason , of the presentiment of her strengths and the knowledge of her Rights ...’ This letter is useful in offering a rare glimpse of an Italian perspective of the Revolution, particularly one that is well-placed at the centre of revolutionary action. On the other hand, the 4-year gap between the time of writing and publishing also limits the source’s utility and the fact that it has also gone through translation and editorial process for the purpose of public consumption. Furthermore, it is possible that the letter was published to communicate a justification for the French military occupation. Notwithstanding that, this source provides an indication how educated Italians saw the French Revolution, at least in the early phase, as signifying a victory for the universalist ideals of Enlightenment and a triumph for Reason.

In terms of revolutionary practices, it is clear that it was not until the arrival of Napoleonic troops that Revolution finally came to the Italian peninsula. Evidently, since 1792, the first Jacobin or patriots’ clubs were formed clandestinely mostly in urban areas based on those of the masonic lodges in France, which not only discussed the ‘novelties’ of the French Revolutionary experience but also different modes of actions to liberate the people of Italy from tyranny. Admittedly, they owed their existence to French influence, especially with not only the presence of French ships under Latouche-Treville in 1792 but also French agents who encouraged the expansion of these organisations. In the next 2 years, these societies would have a significance presence across the peninsula, as in the case of Southern Italy, where police operations noted the existence of two such clubs in Naples: the Club Romo (Republic or Death) and the Club Lomo(Liberty or Death).Therefore, the events of the French Revolution resulted in the new modes of organisation and spaces for new forms of political expressions often at the local actors’ own initiatives, thus contributed to the radicalisation of Italian political thoughts. Moreover, the emergence of these underground clubs form a clandestine network of patriots, at home and abroad. That is not to say there was a diffusion of radical revolutionary thoughts and actions from a ‘revolutionary centre’ towards the ‘peripheries’ but rather adaptation of foreign models to local circumstances, which will be explored in depth.

Furthermore, it is worth mentioning between 1790 and 1796, France would have gone through six years of revolutionary turbulence, especially with the radicalisation of the Revolution under Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, culminating in the Terror and its revolutionary anarchy. These events would have divided opinions upon the Italian intelligentsia, in particular between the moderate pre-revolution reformers and the new class of patriots. It would be the case that many of the moderate reformers expressed abhorrence at the “excesses” of the Terror, whilst many others such as economist Pietro Verri and Francesco Melzi applied the threat of revolution to push for more liberal reform schemes, under the guise of Enlightened rule especially as the various regional polities on the peninsula were undergoing socio-political crises. Whereas, the attitudes of the patriots toward these aspects of the French Revolution are subjected to debate, which also centered around independence or blind obedience to the French experience. Historians such as Woolf insists on the desire on the part of the Italian patriots to emulate in their own local surroundings what they described as the most “heroic” moment of the French Revolution, that of Robbespierre and the Committee of Public Safety of 1793-1794. This sentiment is embodied in the proposals of figures such as Filipo Buonaroti and Matteo Galdi, amongst others, were inspired by the Constitution of 1793 that came out from this radical period of the French Revolution. However, the attitudes of Italian patriots toward this period of the French Revolution was more complex than previously argued. This can be seen in an open letter addressed to Robbespierre, written by Giovanni Ranza and published in the June 3, 1793 edition of the journal Monitore italiano politico e letterario , which stated that the French Revolution serves as an example for the Italian patriots, but not “a rule without exception” ( une regle sans exception). Along that line, new interpretations have shown that there was less enthusiasm for the Terror than previously assumed and many patriots were looking towards the arguably more moderate political framework of the Constitution of the Year III of the Revolutionary Calendar. Thus, this example indicates the Italian attitudes toward the Terror and Robbespierrean experiments were not uniform and indicates reservation around its suitability to local conditions and circumstances. Hence, this was more to do with ‘adaptation’, rather than ‘emulation’ from the perspective of the Italian patriots, which became visible during the Triennio.

While there existed varied receptions to the advent of the French Revolution in its first five years, it is conceivable that the practices and ideals of the French experience became more prevalent in the Italian case as a result of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Campaign on the peninsula from 1796 onwards. Before 1796, the Italian revolutionary project remained clandestine. The French presence and the establishment of the ‘sister republics’ presented new opportunities and challenges for the Italian patriots, as well as a fundamental shift in the political culture of the peninsula with regards to the articulation of a new form of Italian Republicanism, as agreed upon by historians. These changes and the role of Italian patriots in facilitating these changes shall be examined further.

For context, it is worth mentioning the French military intervention into Italy in April 1796 under Napoleon was more to do with geo-strategic military considerations from the Directory rather than instigating an ideological crusade to export the Revolution. In particular, the Directory regarded as at times, a ‘war of conquest’ to finance the French Republic and at times, a diversionary tactic. Therefore, the establishment of the ‘sister republics’ could be cynically seen as the establishment of glorified military outposts to support the French war efforts, as the Revolutionary Wars take on an offensive and expansionist turn. Regardless, the establishment of these ‘sister republics’ on the Italian peninsula, starting with the Cispandane Republic in the North in 1796, which merged with the Cisalpine Republic in 1797 and ended with the Neapolitan Republic in the South in 1799, saw the introduction of a new political culture based on that of Revolutionary France. The changes included the articulation of new political models and practices, one of which was the idea of a unitary Italian republic as the foundation for national independence and social changes. One could point to the pre-revolution discourses to indicate the evolution of the idea of a unified Italian entity, however, they previously only advocated this on cultural terms, thus the French occupation resulted in an intellectual rupture. This can be seen in the essay written by Melchiorre Gioia in 1796 on the question of which type of government is best suited to the ‘happiness of Italy’, in which he called for a unitary Italian ‘single indivisible republic.’ In particular, one that permits ‘freedom of activity’ but also prevents ‘disorder.’ Thus, the French presence , at least in the early phase of the Triennio raised the possibility of a political unification of the Italian peninsula, but more so along republican line and one that is modelled on that of republican France.

Along this line, this text was part of a wider debate amongst Italian patriots on the experience of the French Revolution and its relevance to the Italian republican question during the Triennio.It is worth noting that the French occupation resulted in a new print culture, as evident by the publication of several journals by Italian patriots in this period, including the Giornale de’ patrioti d’Italia and Termometro politico della Lombardia, with the former demonstrating its pan-Italian credentials in its name. Whilst published under French Directorial control, these journals were not mouthpieces of the occupying forces but far from it. They often served as forums where patriots debated republican ideals and practices within the restriction of the French military presence. Moreover, they are used to demonstrate the independent character( le caractère autonome) of the patriots’ own movement, which is rooted in Enlightenment traditions of progress and aspiration for freedom, rather than proxies of an occupying foreign force. Furthermore, in these publications, the experience of the French Revolution is echoed when best suited, which demonstrates a sense of pragmatism. As previously mentioned, the publication of the 1792 letter written from Paris by an Italian can be seen as a way to communicate the merit of the French Revolution to a reading public. Of course, it is difficult to say whether these publications had any significant reach as circulation can be hindered by factors such as literacy rate and other restrictions as the ‘sister republics’ were only independent nominally while the real decision-making capability rested within the Directory in Paris. On the other hand, the focus would be on their content to examine the kind of ideas generated during this period.

Within these journals, it can be observed there were presence of lively discussions, particularly on republican ideals and the shaping of a ‘single and indivisible’ Italian republic. These can range from abstract ideological concepts to more practical matters, particularly proposing what an Italian Republic should entail. For example, in a short piece in the Giornale , dated 13 June 1797, it echoes the proposal made by comte de Mirabeau in the early years of the French Revolution to replace the flag of the ancien regime ( l’antica bandiera) with the revolutionary Tricolor and based on that precedent, it urged the ‘regenerated’ ( rigenerate) Genoa and Venice, which were already under French occupation by this point, to abandon the ‘cross and lion’ ( la croce and il leone) and adapt the Italian tricolor ( i tre colori italiani) .It is worth noting how the experience of the French Revolution was used to inform a unitary Italian republicanism, in which is a desire for new revolutionary symbols such as a national flag to express that vision of unification in the tricolor based on that of the French Republic. Of course, the petition did not reflect reality as Genoa eventually became part of the Ligurian Republic in 1797 with its own flag, as were the case for other ‘sister republics’ and Venice coming under Austrian control by the end of the same year. On another note, the use of vocabulary such as regeneration indicates how a new political language was being expressed during the Triennio , along the line of Enlightenment and revolutionary ideals. This new political language can also be seen throughout the journals, especially in how they are dated, for example, in the heading of the June 22, 1797 issue of the Giornale, the date is also written as 4 Messidor in the first year of Italian liberty ( 4 Messidoro Anno I della libertà’ Italiana) along side its Judeo-Christian counterpart. A minor, albeit significant detail. In this context, the Messidor in this context is the tenth month in the French Republican Calendar, a byproduct of the Terror. The use of the French Republican calendar reflects the political context, in which the ‘sister republics’ were modelled in terms of practices and institutions of the French Revolution. On the other hand, it also reflects the desire of Italian patriots to implement a similar project for their own Italian republic as a break from the ancien régime and also shows how certain aspects of French Jacobinism remains in favour. At the same time, the continued usage of the Judeo Christian calendar also implies a more gradual approach to change, thus adaptation.

This also brings to the ongoing question of how the period of Terror and the legacy of Robbespierre was perceived amongst Italian patriots during the Triennio. In fact, this debate continues to divide Italian patriots as they were in the process of formulating a new form of Italian republicanism. As shown in the journals, certain theme of this period of the French Revolution are present, such as the need for education of republican virtue through the means of establishing Societies of Public Instructions along with the desire for their pan-Italian equivalence to differentiate from those born out of Revolutionary France, in which the former cannot challenge the government but can only instruct it of its duties whilst also educating the people on their rights. Thus, these practices from the Revolution remains desirable amongst Italian patriots, albeit with some modifications of their own. At the same time, patriots such as Piedtmontese Giovanni Antonio Ranza maintained strong beliefs in the merits of the Robbespierre era in different cases. One of them includes the question of preference of constitutional models for a unitary Italian Republic. As previously covered, most of the Italian ‘sister republics’ were constitutionally modeled on the arguably more conservative French Republican Constitution of Year III (1795). In Ranza’s 1797 brochure “Reflections on the Constitution of the Cisalpine Republic”, he criticised the rapid adoption of a Constitution that was seen as too closely based on ( étroitement calquée ) the French equivalent of year III and subsequently, argued for one that is inspired from the more populist Constitution of 1793.27 However, this endorsement for this stage of the French Revolution centered around a romantic vision, rather than the reality of the Terror. It is worth noting there was no such incident on the Italian peninsula that came close to the scale of what happened in France, with the exception of a ‘Royal Terror’ in Naples on April 12, 1799 with a Committee of Public Safety being set up to impose police measures and a Patriotic Society, modelled on the Parisian Jacobin Club, being formed to ‘scrutinise’ and ‘interrogate’ public officials. On the other hand, the minimal political influence of the Italian patriots, particularly the more radical wing, outside printing press, the Directory’s influence, especially Napoleon’s influence, prevented any incurrence of Jacobinist anarchy within the other ‘sister republics.’ The anti-French risings that erupted across the Italian peninsula and the military counter-offensive from the Second Coalition resulted in the collapse of the Italian ‘sister republics,’ and put an end to the Italian republican project of the Triennio by 1799.29 If the experience of the French Revolution also include that of the Directory and Napoleonic military endeavours, then it presents itself as a bitter lessons for Italian republicanism while simultaneously, Italian republicans maintained an idealistic interpretation of the Revolutionary experience. This sentiment was expressed by Italian patriots in-exile in France in ‘Le Cri de L’Italie,’ which maintains the objective of a ‘single republic’ along French line in terms of ‘political constitution’ and ‘principles'.30 Therefore, despite the briefness of the Triennio, the experience of the French Revolution was appropriated by Italian patriots to a degree for the purpose of formulating of a distinct unitary Italian republicanism in the long run.

In general, during the Triennio and preceding that, through writings and the use of the printing press, Italian patriots sought to adapt, when appropriate, the experience of the French Revolution, at least a romantic notion of it, to develop a distinctive unitary Italian republicanism. While the Napoleonic military adventure into the peninsula contributed greatly to this political and revolutionary rupture across the Italian peninsula, it was also the initiatives of local patriots to agitate for radical break from the tyrannical past within the traditions of the Enlightenment and the revolutionary fervour of the late eighteenth century. It has been noted in historiography of the limitations of the Italian patriots in implementing changes, however, the focus of this paper has been on how the patriots viewed the ideals and practices of the French Revolution, especially regarding the Terror, throughout its historical course and sought to adapt them to local conditions in view of achieving unification of the peninsula. Thus, despite the collapse of the Italian ‘sister republics’ by 1799 and abrupt end to the patriots’ revolutionary project, partly due to the experience of the French Revolution and the intellectual contributions from Italian patriots, Italian republicanism went through a significant paradigm shift in the global age of democratic revolutions.

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Newspapers
Senato della Repubblica. “Biblioteca- L’Archivio dei Giornali Storici in Digitale.” Accessed November 24, 2019. http://www.senato.it/teca/giornalistorici/ .

Speeches/ Other writings
Woolf, S. J., ed. The Italian Risorgimento. L ondon: Longmans, 1969.

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