ABSTRACT
Before 1859 Cavour's thoughts had not often travelled beyond the Apennines. He had never been in central Italy. He had no intimate friend in Tuscany, and fewer contacts there than in most other Italian regions. His ideas about its future were changeable nor were they the result of any profound thought. When Pal.- merston once suggested enlarging the Grand Duke's domains, he had opposed the idea, 2 because he wanted no alternative focus for Italian patriotism; yet when Louis Napoleon later repeated the suggestion, Cavour agreed that Tuscany could be allowed to annex Umbria and the Marches. 3 In negotiations with the Emperor he bid for Venice, Modena, Parma and the Romagna 1 R. della Torre, La Evoluzione del Sentimento Nazionale in Toscana, dal 27 Aprile
27I
as possible acquisitions for Piedmont, but did not bid for Tuscany. Leopold's dynasty evidently met no rooted objection on his part, and he once seems to have considered a marriage alliance between Lorraine and Savoy. 4 He even showed solidarity with Leopold by helping him suppress Mazzini's nationalist agitation.5 Yet he could also consider giving Tuscany to the Bourbons of Parma so as to leave Parma available for that advancement of Piedmont which was his first political principle. As late as December 1858 he was not unfavourable to the strange notion of imposing a Hohenzollern prince on Tuscany, for it would please the Germans and bring into Italy what he called 'une race qui a encore de la force et de la vigueur'. 6 All this shows a notable disinclination towards political dogmatism or doctrinaire Italian patriotism.
