Timeline / 1810 to 1870 /

Date Country Theme

1815 - 1816 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Antonio Canova, acting on behalf of Pope Pio VII, recovers from France several pieces of art belonging to the , which had been brought to Paris by , including the Villa Borghese’s archaeological collection.

1815 Italy Political Context

The decides the restoration of pre-Napoleonic monarchies: Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont, , Sardinia); Kingdom of Two Sicilies (Southern Italy and Sicily), the Papal States (part of ), Grand Duchy of and other smaller states. Much of northern Italy (Milan, , Trieste etc.) is under the Austrian empire.

1815 - 1860 Italy Political Context

Italian “Risorgimento” (movement for national unification).

1815 - 1859 Italy Economy And Trade

Italy is an agricultural country. Political fragmentation is an obstacle to trade and economic development. The different states use not only different currencies, but also different systems of measurement.

1816 Italy Rediscovering The Past

In , inauguration of the Royal Bourbon Museum, whose holdings include the rich collection of archaeological items belonged to Elisabetta Farnese and the pieces excavated in Pompei during the 18th century. All such holdings are personal properties of the king.

1816 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Gioachino Rossini (1795–1868), the young director of the San Carlo Theatre of Naples, the most important at the time, puts on stage in the Barber of Seville. The opera, thanks to its easy and passionate pacing, sets a new benchmark for the light operatic , namely, the opera buffa (comic opera).

1818 - 1819 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Construction of the first steamboats. The first steamboat lines in the Mediterranean: Naples shipyards build the steamboat Ferdinando I (for the line Naples–Genoa–Marseille); Genoa shipyards build the steamboat Eridano (to be used in the Adriatic Sea).

1820 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Edict by Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca (1756–1844) dictating a comprehensive set of measures for the protection of cultural heritage in the Papal States: it is the first comprehensive law on the protection of cultural heritage issued in Italy and it will become a model for the other Italian states. Date Country Theme

1820 - 1831 Italy Political Context

In 1820–21 and 1830–31, uprisings in different parts of Italy in favour of national unification and constitutional rule. They meet harsh repression.

1820s - 1850s Italy Economy And Trade

Industrialisation begins at a slower pace compared with other Western European countries. It concentrates in Northern Italy (Piedmont, Lombardy) and in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Silk production is the strongest industrial sector.

1821 - 1822 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Giuseppe Valadier’s neoclassical project for the area next to the Rome northern gate is completed: it encompasses Piazza del Popolo and a new scenographic access to the Pincio hill.

1821 - 1859 Italy Migrations

Harsh repression of pro-national unification and pro-constitution movement forces many activists – including Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi – to flee abroad.

1821 - 1822 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Francesco Hayez paints I Vespri Siciliani, a historical painting expressing the new revolutionary and independence ideas that are taking root in Italy.

1822 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Inauguration of the Vatican Museums’ Braccio Nuovo (new wing), which completes the Chiaramonti Museum, whose construction had started in 1807, under the impulse of Pope Pius VII (Barnaba Chiaramonti). The Museum’s collection was set up by the sculptor Antonio Canova and included a large body of archaeological items.

1822 Italy Travelling

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany issues the first official ruling in Italy regarding “those who bathe in the sea in the open air”. Around that time, in Viareggio two wooden bathing establishments are built (one for men, the other for women). They are intended for seawater therapy.

1824 Italy Rediscovering The Past

In Turin, inauguration of the Royal Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. The Museum holding includes 5,268 Egyptian items brought to Italy by Bernardino Drovetti and bought by the King of Sardinia, Charles Felix of Savoy.

1825 Italy Travelling

More than half a million pilgrims visit Rome on the occasion of the Catholic “Holy Year”. In the Roman Catholic tradition, a Holy Year or Jubilee is a year of Date Country Theme forgiveness of sins and reconciliation. Other Holy Years were celebrated in 1875 and in 1900. Rome always attracted Catholic pilgrims, especially during Holy Years.

1825 - 1827 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873) publishes I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), one of the most widely read Italian novels. His use of the Italian language stands out as a model.

1828 - 1829 Italy Rediscovering The Past

The Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II and Charles X of France finance the archaeological expedition to Egypt headed by Ippolito Rossellini and Jean-Francois Champollion.

1829 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Gioachino Rossini puts on stage in Paris his last opera, Guillaume Tell, featuring the fight of the Swiss people for freedom from Habsburg domination. He wrote 39 operas, characterised by a style aiming at pure musical beauty (bel canto). Great attention is paid to the sound of the voice and to technical virtuosity, with little emphasis on the different dramatic situations and to the personality of the different characters.

1831 Italy Political Context

Giuseppe Mazzini founds the republican movement for national unification, Giovine Italia ().

1831 - 1835 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Once Rossini has left the stage, his place is taken by Gaetano Donizetti (1797– 1848) and Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835). They introduce the new romantic spirit into melodrama and establish a tighter link between words and music. Their style is characterised by greater attention to the psychology of the different characters.

1835 - 1837 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

For the first time, a cholera epidemic hits Italy, killing more than 140,000 (26,000 in Palermo and 19,600 in Naples). Its causes remain unknown until the 1880s. Its spread is favoured by poor sanitation in urban centres. Cholera epidemics hit poor people especially and often occasion social unrest.

1837 - 1840 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

Naples and Turin are the first Italian towns to have gas street lightning.

1839 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

First Italian railway line (Napoli–Portici, 8 km). In the following years, other railway lines are inaugurated in other Italian states, e.g. Milano–Monza (1840), Pisa- (1844), Padova–Venezia (1846), Torino–Moncalieri (1848). Political fragmentation is an obstacle to the construction of long railway lines. Date Country Theme

1842 Italy Travelling

A seaside hostel is opened in Viareggio (Tuscany) for the treatment of children affected by tuberculosis (the first of its kind in Italy). In Tuscany, experiments of “marine therapy” for children started in the 1820s. By 1882, 21 seaside hostels for medical purposes are active in Italy.

1842 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Triumph of Nabuccodonosor by Giuseppe Verdi (1831–1901) at La Scala Theatre (Milan): it marks the appearance of a new operatic style, in which both voice and music show an entirely new heroic passion and strength.

1843 Italy Travelling

First bathing establishment created in Rimini.

1847 - 1848 Italy Great Inventions Of The 19th Century

First Italian telegraph line (–Pisa–Livorno).

1848 - 1849 Italy Political Context

Uprisings in different parts of Italy demand constitutional rule and national unification. In Rome and Venice, short-lived republics are proclaimed. King Carlo Alberto (Kingdom of Sardinia) grants a constitution and wages war against the Austrian Empire, but he is defeated.

1848 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Donizetti dies and Verdi remains the only heir to the Italian melodrama, which is increasingly identified with the Risorgimento movement, becoming a “sound track” of the Italian fight for independence and unification.

1850s - 1860s Italy Travelling

Mountaineering on the Alps becomes a sport and tourism activity. Local people had always climbed mountains. Since the end of the 18th century, scientists had started exploring the Alps for scientific purposes (Mont Blanc was first climbed in 1786). In 1857, Irish mountaineer John Ball starts climbing the Dolomites and writing guidebooks about them.

1850 - 1855 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

The painters of the School of Posillipo (Naples) develop a new style of more natural observation of landscapes and everyday life.

1851 - 1853 Italy Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion

Verdi composes the so-called popular trilogy (Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata), consolidating his fame and reaching full musical and dramatical maturity.

1852 Italy Political Context Date Country Theme

Cavour (Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, 1810–61), the architect of the diplomatic strategies that allowed , becomes prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia (he will remain prime minister until his death).

1854 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

Leopoldo Alinari, with his brothers Romualdo and Giuseppe, opens in Florence one of the first photography workshope – Fratelli Alinari.

1855 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

The Caffé Michelangelo in Florence becomes a meeting place for artists and republican intellectuals close to Giuseppe Mazzini, in opposition to academic and official environments.

1855 Italy Political Context

The Kingdom of Sardinia participates in the Crimean war as part of the Anglo- French alliance against Russia.

1855 Italy Rediscovering The Past

Inauguration of the Egyptian Museum in Florence. The bulk of its holdings are the items collected by Ippolito Rossellini during the 1828–29 Franco-Tuscan expedition to Egypt, together with the Egyptian antiquities that the Medici family had collected during the 18th century.

1858 Italy International Exhibitions

An industrial exhibition is held in Turin.

1859 - 1861 Italy Political Context

The Kingdom of Sardinia, backed by France, wages war against the Austrian Empire and annexes Milan. Pro-unification insurrections in central Italy; Garibaldi leads an expedition of 1,000 volunteers in Southern Italy. Italy is unified under King Victor Emanuel II (formerly King of Sardinia) as a constitutional monarchy.

1859 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The Casati Law is passed in the Kingdom of Sardinia (and in 1860 extended to the rest of Italy) that defines the organisation of the educational system, from primary school to university. The system is aimed more at educating the ruling elite than the illiterate masses. Humanities are given a much higher status than scientific and technical education.

1860 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

The unification of Italy leads to urban expansion outside the old city walls, which have lost their defensive value. Medieval urban buildings are often demolished in order to build monumental architecture.

1860 Italy Political Context Date Country Theme

The right to vote is reserved for a small elite of men who have certain levels of income and education: only 2.2% of the Italians can vote.

1860 - 1870 Italy Fine And Applied Arts

In opposition to academic painting, the movement (, Vincenzo Cabianca and Silvestro Lega) experiments with “spot painting”, based on the strong contrast between light and shadow.

1861 Italy International Exhibitions

First Italian National Exhibition of Agricultural and Industrial Products and Fine Arts opens in Florence.

1861 Italy Rediscovering The Past

The pre-unification laws on the protection of cultural heritage of the individual Italian states remain in force even after unification. Until 1902, different Italian regions are thus subject to different disciplines.

1862 Italy Economy And Trade

Law on the unification of currencies passed: the lira becomes the Italian currency.

1863 Italy Travelling

The Club Alpino Italiano is founded in Turin. Its goal is “to promote the knowledge of mountains, and especially of Italian mountains, their ascent and scientific expeditions”. In 25 years, membership reaches 4,500 with 34 local branches. By 1900 it had built 57 mountain huts.

1864 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

A governmental survey reveals the existence of 443 friendly societies (Società di mutuo soccorso), all located in Central and Northern Italy (Milan has 38 societies with a total of 9,923 members, Turin 13 with 14,864 members). Their number and membership grows considerably over time until the development of modern welfare.

1865 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The new-born Italian state approves a civil code that places women in a subordinate position in the family. Boys and girls can inherit equally, but married women need “marital authorisation” to manage their property. Male and female adultery are treated differently. The “defence of honour” is accepted as attenuating circumstance in murder cases.

1865 - 1867 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

The worst of the five cholera epidemics that hit Italy during the 19th century kills more than 160,000. The most affected towns are always Naples and Palermo.

1866 Italy Economy And Trade Date Country Theme

A law confiscates the properties of religious orders and congregations, and establishes a state fund to support the clergy and monks.

1866 Italy Political Context

Italy participates in the Austro-Prussian War on the side of Prussia and annexes Venice.

1867 Italy Economy And Trade

Law on the abolition of religious bodies: the real estate properties of 25,000 religious bodies are auctioned.

1867 Italy Political Context

Uprising in Rome demanding unification with Italy. At the same time, Garibaldi leads an expedition of volunteers that enters the Papal States and tries to seize Rome. Roman rebels are defeated and executed. Garibaldi is defeated by Papal troops backed by a French expeditionary corps (France protects the Papal States).

1867 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Around 60 per cent of men and 80 per cent of women are unable to sign their marriage certificate because they are unable to write.

1867 Italy Travelling

The Società Geografica Italiana is founded. In 1869-70, it organises an exploratory expedition to East Africa, in 1875 to Tunisia and in 1876 to Ethiopia. Many other journeys to Africa, and also to Central Asia, South America and Papua follow. Such travels generally combined scientific purposes and political agendas.

1868 Italy Reforms And Social Changes

Gualberta Alaide Beccari (a feminist with republican ideas, much influenced by Mazzini) founds the periodical La donna, which campaigns for women’s rights. La donna’s main contributor is Anna Maria Mozzoni, who since 1865 had campaigned against “marital authorisation” and for women’s right to vote.

1870 Italy Cities And Urban Spaces

Renewal and urban modernisation of Rome starts with the opening of a long road linking Porta Pia (where the Italian army broke into the city in 1870) to the Quirinale Palace, residence of the King (formerly a papal palace). The headquarters of some ministries are located along this road.