lack of arbitrary authorih’—made it easy prey for revolution.rnThe empire was supranational, multiethnic, and multiracial,rnhi order to destroy it, the revolutionary forces ignited nationalistrnpassions, which were lying dormant under the Austrian crown,rnfostering separatism, secession, and ultimately disintegration.rnAfter 1814, murky forces attempted to create a nationalistrnstate of mind in the various populations of Europe. Becausernthese forces adopted the rule of secrecy, they are hard to document,rnalthough they woidd come to be known as “Masonry.”rnThere were those who were able to identify, in all this nationalistrnfervor, a European disease. Franz Grillparzer, an Austrianrnwriter, prophesied that humanity would be carried, byrnmeans of nationality, all the way to bestiality: an acute prognosisrnthat would be fulfilled in Nazism, in the ideology of biologicalrnpurity as the only political value.rnThe awareness of a common Italian identit}’, notwithstandingrnthe division of Italy into a dozen small states, was veryrnold. Dante and Machiavelli had fought for political unificationrnof the peninsula; not, hov ever, as an expression of a national-biological-rnlinguistic vision but with reference to the Ronran Empire.rnItaly, they argued, had to reconquer her spiritual inheritance.rnItalians, who had been reduced to a collection ofrnnameless peoples under foreign domination, had to regain theirrnpride and the virtues of Romanitas. They had to make themselvesrnthe center of a higher political order that would restorernthe civil, legal, and culhiral units’ of the Roman Empire whichrnhad unified and civilized Europe.rnThese were cultural, even literary aspirations, which hadrnmade little progress toward realization. The “new patriotism”rnthat gave birth to the Risorgimento and to the unitv of Italy underrnthe monarchy of Piedmont and Savov was of a completelyrndifferent type.rnThe creator of this new climate was Giuseppe Mazzini. Arntireless agitator and conspirator, Mazzini succeeded in inspiringrna collective state of mind in the Italian educated classes. InrnMazziiii’s view, the unification of Italy was bound up with a pronouncedrnhosfilih’ toward the Catholic Church, which was seenrnas an “obscurantist and reactionary” obstacle to “the nation.”rnThe Italy of the future, Mazzini proclaimed, was to be republican,rnwith no more kings and popes. Rcvolutionarv nationalismrnwas to be aroused widr assassination attempts, acts of terrorism,rnand insurrections by “enlightened” minorities.rnThe specifically anti-Catholic flavor of Mazzini’s “patriotism”rnand its derivation from the French Revolution made it anrnobject of hatred to the great majority of the Italian population.rnThe lower classes —essentiallv peasants —were stronglyrnCatholic and attached to their local sovereigns: to the pope inrnthe Papal States, to the House of Bourbon in the Kingdom ofrnthe Two Sicilies. They opposed, with scythes and pitchforks.rnNapoleon’s troops, who brought the “liherte” of the French Revolution,rnwhich turned out to mean the looting and seizure ofrntheir poor farms.rnItalian cultural u]iit)’ was foreign to this agrarian element ofrnthe population: They spoke local dialects and barely understoodrnthe dialect of Florence used by Dante and Machiavelli,rnwhich only a small educated elite learned. Linguistic unity wasrnrealized, to some extent, only under fascism, and later, definitively,rnby television, which introduced a standard Italian on thernlowest level.rnMazzini was aware diat the common people vvordd never berndrawn to his extremist nationalism. From the beginning, herndedicated himself to preparing a revolutionary’ minorih’ of students,rnyoiuig officers, members of the middle class, and intellectualsrnwho would drag the passive—or downright hostile —rnmasses toward the future. To this end, he founded a secretrnnationalist society, the Carbonari, confederating numerous preexistentrnMasonic lodges and modifying their ideology in a “patriotic”rndirection. Then he organized ‘Young Italy,” a secondrncenter of clandestine conspiracy which was to be the model forrnthe nationalist movements of other countries.rnMazzini enjoyed discreet but powerful international support,rnand he operated as a prominent member of a global network. Arnpersonal friend and correspondent of Albert Pike, the founderrnof American Masonry, Mazzini lived a great part of his life inrnLondon, where he took shelter ever’ time the authorities of thernItalian states were searching for him. London’s Masonic motherrnlodge protected him and provided him access to the mansionsrnof the British aristocracy.rnIn British imperialist circles, Mazzini may have been seen asrna useful tool for reducing Habsburg hegemony over the Italianrnstates or for exercising British influence over Italy. It is certainrnthat Mazzini the fugitive was always supplied with passports andrnpapers.rnSince there were no photographs at that time, he used thern|Dassport ot his personal friend Rabbi Morales of Livorno, a leadingrnmember of a Jewish community that had close business ticsrnwitii the British world. Mazzini’s mistress was also a leader inrnthe Jewish wing of a movement that was anti-Catholic and “patriotic.”rnHer son, Ernesto Nathan, a Masonic grandmaster,rnwould become the first mayor of Rome when it was “liberated”rnfronr the papacy and united by force to Italy.rnIn 1821, the network of agitators provoked a series of insurrectionsrnthroughout Europe, from Spain to Greece. In SouthernrnItaly, a putsch of progressive officers forced the king to adoptrna liberal (that is, Jacobin-Napoleonic) constitution. Almost immediately,rnthe people of Sicily rose up against the new government;rnthe liberals had recourse to more ruthless military repressionrnand soon found themselves fighting a civil war that splitrnthem into two camps within a few weeks. In Piedmont, students,rnintellectuals, and voung officers (members of YoungrnItaly) demanded that the king and the House of Savoy enter intornimmediate conflict with Austria in order to seize Lombardrnand Veneto.rnThe little kingdom of Piedmont was the Italian Prussia, ruledrnb’ a militaiT nronarchy. However, the ruling family saw that, b’rnadopting the progressivism of the Mazzinian nationalists, theyrnhad an opportunity for territorial conquests: at first, only Lombardvrnand Veneto; but over the years, their ambition extendedrnto die entire peninsula. From that point on. Piedmont began tornput itself at the senice of the “Italian cause,” providing it with itsrnmilitar)’ organization.rnIn 1848, in a vast and well-coordinated operation, “spontaneous”rninsurrections exploded simultaneously in Paris, Palermo,rnand Milan, f^ven in Berlin and Vienna, street violencernbroke out —not, of course, with demands for national independencernbut with subversive intent.rnMazziiii himself led the insurrection in Rome against thernpope, who was drien into flight. The conspirators proclaimedrna socialist, anticlerical, and Jacobin republic (the RepubblicarnRomana). A coup staged by upper-middle-class and progressivernintellectuals expelled the Bourbon king from Naples and proclaimedrna Mazzinian republic {Repubblica Partenopea). Afterrnthe republic closed the churches and confiscated church prop-rnI4/CHRON:CLESrnrnrn