ABSTRACT
Nationalism in the Risorgimento based itself on an appeal to a unique and glorious past that united Italians and distinguished them from other ‘nations’. After political unification in 1860, the Risorgimento itself became part of Italy’s common past and provided a form of cultural identity. This shared history, celebrated in Liberal Italy through parades, monuments and popular literature, became more important in defining Italians than a common sense of ethnic or linguistic identity.1
