ABSTRACT
The lure of Italy for British radical middle-class women (and men) in the mid-nineteenth century is well documented. The struggles of the Risorgimento added contemporary political spice to the already heady attraction of the nation’s Renaissance republican past. As the writer Thomas Trollope, a resident of Florence for over forty years, noted: ‘the study of bygone Florentines had an interest for me which was quickened by the daily and hourly study of living Florentines.’ 1 Indeed, his acclaimed four volume, History of the Commonwealth of Florence made explicit the connections between the city’s past contribution to civilisation and progress and its current political status as the mooted ‘future capital of Italy.’ 2 Trollope’s historical works which included biographical studies of famous Italian women, of Catherine de’ Medici, and of Filippo Strozzi were infused throughout with commentaries on, and connections with, current political affairs. The country offered not merely a turbulent present which attracted writers, artists, and politicians to engage with themes of nationalism, liberalism, and civic identities but also a romantic cultural past. Tristram Hunt has charted this ‘imaginary history’ cultivated by the British which focused not only on politics and culture but also on commerce and industry. 3
