Giuseppe Monsagrati
Ed. La Hare
pagg.184
The author, former professor of Contemporary History at the La Sapienza University of Rome, addresses, in this essay - which has the preface of Dr. Mara Minasi, director of the Museum of the Roman Republic and of the Garibaldian memory of Porta San Pancrazio - the brief experience of the Roman Republic, deepening two main aspects: that of trans-nationality and that of the attitude of the Roman population. But why the Republic in Rome? One of the motivations was the illusion that the 16 June 1846 had been elected a liberal and liberating pope: Pius IX. But the amnesty he granted the 16 July, which he had given so much hope, was the only truly revolutionary act he accomplished; after two years of reign, in fact, he realized "No longer have the strength and, within the curia, the necessary consent to implement his projects, conceived in part under the pressure of the crowds." And so, with his decision to abandon the independence front, formalized with the allocation of the 29 April 1848 began "The descending parable of the myth of the liberal pope." The attack, the November 15, to the head of the Pellegrino Rossi government, was a clear message to the Pope that, on the night between 24 and 25 November, he decided to flee to Gaeta.
Born the 9 February, the Republic was immediately seen, by foreign observers, as dangerous as the rebellion "Could have infected other parts of European society". His main enemies were Austria, the Southern Kingdom and France. Once arrived in Rome on April 30 the French, under the command of General Oudinot, suffered a defeat in the area of the Janiculum also thanks to the intervention of Garibaldi. The defense of the Roman people saw on the barricades, to fight, as well as foreign allies, like the French captain Laviron, also the women. Failure to negotiate the Triumvirate - consisting of Mazzini, Armellini and Saffi - with France, at the dawn of 3 June Oudinot unleashed the final assault, always at the Gianicolo. Among the many fallen in the strenuous defense of the Republic, in addition to Luciano Manara, Enrico Dandolo, Goffredo Mameli, there were Belgians, Swiss, Polish and Hungarian. Faithful to its principle - the monarchies can capitulate, the republics die - Mazzini, contrary to any kind of surrender, the June 30, put in the minority by the Assembly, resigned together with the other two triumvirs. The 1 ° July the new triumvirate dealt with the surrender with France.
"The final act of the Republic was its democratic Constitution, proclaimed and read by the Capitol on the same day as the French entered." It was the 3 July 1849.
Gianlorenzo Capano
