Rassegna storica del Risorgimento

Vita dell'Istituto
363
taiuing the momentum oi' the Society, increa sing ita metnbership, and stimulatitig tue cxtensiou of its activities. Spccific instances are bis ettiI ivation of ita fruì t fui relationslup with the Istituto per la Storia del Risorgimento and its friendly Director, Professor Al* bérto M. Ghisalberti; bis success in obtainìng from bis University administrative support and a headquarters for the Society in its Gasa Italiana; in elicitiug from year to ycar the means -with wbich to finance its offer of an annual Prizc; and bis iniziative and co-opera-tion in providing for the publication of its Newsletter. But such specific instances are no adegnate measure of bis tmtiring and effective dedication to the interests of the Society.
The Society cxtends to Professor Marraro its friendliest good wishes and expresses its hope tliat means may be found by which it may continue to ava il itself of bis coun-sel and activc co-opcration .
La Soàetyfor Italian Historical Studies, ha tenuto una seduta congiunta con la Ame­rican Historical Association. Ne diamo un resoconto sommario.
The Joint Sessiou of the American Historical Association with the Society for Italian Historical Studies had as its theme " From Dante to the Presenti Tradition and Changc in the Maldng of Italian Society,,: the Chairman, Professor Felix Gilbert from the Instatale for Advanced Stndy explained in his introduction that this prohlem would be studied in linee cruciai perioda of Italian history: in the times of the Renaissan­ce; of the Risorgimento; and of the Resistenza. In the first paper enti lied From the Florence of Dante to the Florence of Human ism: The Liniits of Cultural Change , Profes­sor Jerrold E. Seigel of Princeton University stated that in Dante's time schoiostic phi-losopby and rhetorics had existed side by side, and that tbese two intellectual trends con* tinued to flonrish in Quattrocento Florence* Profesor Seigel emphosized that the view of a sliarp cultural break brought about by the rise of hnmanism was untcnable. In contrast to the imprcssion created by professional humanists who tried to empha-size the novelty of the humanist approach, the writing and utterances of intellcctually interested members of the Fiorentine ruling group show that they did not regard hn­manism and scbolastic philosophy as opposites hnt as compatible with each other. Professor A. William Salomone from the University of Rochester in his paper " The Risorgimento as Cultural Crisis: Gioberti, Cattaneo, Mazzini questioned interpretation of the Risorgimento wbich applied pnrely politicai criteria and viewed Cavour's work as the " end , of the Risorgimento. In Professor Salomone's view thè Risorgimento fihonld be seen as an encounter of the status " old Italy of the postRenaissance tradi­tion with the dynamic new Europe wbich began emerging during the age of the democralic revolution: a confrontation which brought about intellectual and moral tensione aiaoun-ting to a profound cultural crisis. Thns, Gioberti ended with demanding a reform. of the Cliurclu To Mazzini folfillment of his politicai demanda depended on the emergence of a ew humanity. Cattaneo placed the development of Italy into the general framework of the evolution of sdentine reason. In the last paper on * Antonio Gramsci: Morxism and the Italian Intellectual Tradition Professor John M. Cammei i of Rntgcrs Univer­sity stated that the relation of politics and culture was one of Gramsci's primary concerne and thisintercst: gives Gramsci a unique posiitiou aniong theleaders of modem Communism. Gramsci regarded as a fatai weàkness of the Italian historical development that, partlv becausc of the role oftlie Church in Italy, intelleetuals had lacked organic connection with society and cultivated a supra-national and non-popular cosmopolitanism. Thns, in the Risorgimento the abseuce of an intimate relationslup hetween intelleetuals and peo* pie reaultcd in the ineffectivencss of radicai lenderS likc Mazzini and Cattaneo and the victory of moderates allied to bourgeois aristocrutlc forecs. On the other band, because the ollJance between industrialists and landowners loft workers and peasants helpless and impotent, Italian intelleetuals had a pnrticularly importarli task iu twuiiUeih-ccn-tury Italy because they alone could forge an altìance between thoBe opprcsscd groups òf society and briug about a trae revolution.
The three papere were followed by a long nnd lively discussion .