ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the development of monumental cemeteries in nineteenth-century Italy and aims to show how funerary architecture mirrored the evolution of a society and its politics. It addresses the impact of the Risorgimento, or the struggle for Italian freedom and unity in the period between the Restoration in 1815 and the establishment of the capital in Rome in 1870. The book explores processes that were inherent in an evolving social structure, and through which Italian cemeteries were invested with the aspirations of a rising bourgeoisie. It provides an interdisciplinary approach and brings together material drawn from different areas of interest; notably, art and politics. The book discusses the work of urban and architectural historians who address the relationships between architecture and its underlying social conditions, such as Brian Ladd, Nancy Stieber, Eve Blau and Lucy Maulsby.
