Vincenzo Gioberti

Italian politician

• Born: April 5, 1801
• Birthplace: Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia (now in Italy)
• Died: October 26, 1852
• Place of death: Paris, France

One of the founders of modern Italy, Gioberti developed the first comprehensive political program for the Risorgimento—the Italian national unification movement. He represented the progressive Catholic political tradition in nineteenth century Italy and sought to redefine the Church’s political role in the process of creating the new Italian nation.

Early Life

Vincenzo Gioberti (joh-BEHR-tee) lost his father, Giuseppe, at an early age, and his mother, Marianna Capra—a learned and deeply religious woman—died on December 24, 1819. Gioberti received his education from a school run by a Catholic religious order—the Fathers of the Oratory, in Turin. Despite his ill health as a child, he studied diligently and demonstrated a particular interest in the writings of the Italian poet Vittorio Alfieri and the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Gioberti entered the religious order but apparently without much enthusiasm. In his studies for the priesthood, he became convinced of the need for religious reform and for the reconciliation between the Christian faith and modern science. After earning a theology degree in 1823, Gioberti joined the faculty of the theological college at the University of Turin. He was ordained a priest in 1825. The following year, he received an appointment as chaplain to the royal court of King Charles Felix of Piedmont-Sardinia.

Gioberti’s service to the Savoy monarch in Turin did not alter his personal aversion to political authoritarianism. As a young man, he harbored the democratic and nationalist sentiments of many educated Italians during the early nineteenth century. The Italy of Gioberti’s youth existed only as a “geographical expression”—an odd assortment of kingdoms, duchies, and principalities running the length of the Italian peninsula.

Inspired by the political ideas and events of the French Revolution, Italians nurtured their aspirations for an independent, united Italy. The obstacles to unification were immense. Much of northern Italy was part of the Austrian Empire; Spanish royalty ruled southern Italy and Sicily; and the pope exercised sovereignty over a large part of the central region. Moreover, the European powers had agreed to maintain the status quo in Italy, even by military intervention if necessary.

Many Italian nationalists, in their hopes for unification, looked to the strongest independent Italian state—Piedmont-Sardinia—for leadership. The conservative Savoy monarchs, however, had no desire to encourage political upheaval, nor did they wish to offend the Papacy or the European powers. Without the leadership of the Savoy monarchy or any other political authority, the task of Italian unification fell to a loosely connected network of secret patriotic societies. Gioberti’s political activity began with his involvement with these conspiratorial organizations.

Life’s Work

Gioberti first established contact with a secret society in 1828, when he traveled through northern Italy. During these travels (under the constant surveillance of the Austrian police), he also met with Giacomo Leopardi and Alessandro Manzoni, two leading nationalist writers. Later, he became acquainted with Young Italy , the republican society founded by Giuseppe Mazzini in 1831. He openly sympathized with Young Italy until Mazzini sponsored an unsuccessful insurrection in Piedmont in 1834.

Because of his preaching on civic and political matters, and his radical religious opinions, Gioberti was dismissed from the royal court in May, 1833. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested and imprisoned on the charge of advocating a republican form of government and distributing copies of Mazzini’s newspaper Young Italy among Piedmontese soldiers. Given the choice between a lengthy prison sentence or exile, he left for France in September, 1833.

After a year in Paris without finding means for study or suitable employment, Gioberti accepted a teaching position at the Gaggia College in Brussels. There he began an intense period of writing. He published studies of aesthetics and the supernatural, a critique of Jesuit doctrines, and an introduction to philosophy. His most important work, Del primato morale e civile degli Italiani (on the moral and civil primacy of the Italians), was published in two volumes in 1843.

In Del primato morale e civile degli italiani, Gioberti presented a far-ranging theological and historical justification for Italian independence and unity. He recounted Italy’s past greatness as the center of the Roman Empire and Christian civilization. He reminded Italians of the moral and political legacy that they had bequeathed to the modern world, and he called on his country to resume its historic role as a leader among nations. In his program for a new Italy, he envisioned a federation of independent states, free from foreign rule, united under the aegis of a papal president, and protected by the strong military arm of the House of Savoy. Gioberti dismissed the idea of unification through a popular insurrection as dangerous and impractical. Instead, he looked to the rulers of each Italian state to demonstrate their patriotism and their political wisdom by enacting progressive reforms and joining the national federation on a voluntary basis. Gioberti’s outline for Italian independence and unification included several practical suggestions: abolishing tariffs and duties; standardizing weights, measures, and currency; and other forms of economic cooperation.

With Del primato morale e civile degli italiani, Gioberti established his reputation as the leading theorist of Italian unification. The tedious, seven-hundred-page work was widely read and discussed, despite the ban on its circulation outside Piedmont. Del primato morale e civile degli italiani lifted the morale of Italian nationalists. Both King Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia and Pope Pius IX came under its spell. Gioberti’s program for unification inspired political moderates to action. Many nationalists in the upper classes feared the economic and social upheaval that might accompany unification. They were wary of any participation of the masses in the unification movement, and they found much assurance in Gioberti’s idea of creating an Italian nation “from above.”

Some Italian nationalists, even among the moderate element, were skeptical of Gioberti’s proposals. He gave no indication of how to deal with Austria and its powerful army in northern Italy. His hopes for political cooperation among the rulers of the Italian states seemed hopelessly naïve. The most controversial point was the idea of a pope as president of a federation of Italian states. Gioberti’s critics scoffed at the notion that the pope could have any positive role in Italian unification. Their criticism was well justified. The Papal States had a reputation unsurpassed in Europe for political oppression, corruption, and misrule. The Papacy stood as a defender of the old order and an obstacle to political progress. Many nationalists believed that unification would be completed only when the pope surrendered civil authority over his territory and allowed Rome to become the capital of the new Italian nation.

When Pius became the new pontiff in 1846, the political climate in the Papal States changed markedly. The youthful, energetic ruler immediately instituted a series of democratic reforms within the Papal States, disbanded his mercenary army, and granted amnesty to political prisoners. His popularity grew throughout Italy, and he won support even among anticlerics. The explosion of revolutionary sentiment in 1848 eventually overtook the pontiff’s program of reform, and Pius retreated behind a wall of intransigent conservatism. For a time, however, Gioberti’s idea of a liberal pope seemed to be vindicated.

Gioberti’s writing won for him national renown. He was recognized as the leader of the Veri italiani (true Italians), a circle of distinguished political moderates living in exile, and began corresponding with Charles Albert. The king, in turn, recognized his achievement by granting him an annual pension, which Gioberti donated to the church charity in Turin. While residing in Paris in 1846, he was elected to the Subalpine (Piedmontese) Parliament. He returned to Turin after almost fifteen years in exile, a celebrated figure in Italian political life. When he traveled through northern Italy, crowds greeted him as a national hero. In July, 1848, he was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies. In December, the king invited him to form a government.

Gioberti’s tenure as prime minister was short and undistinguished. He lacked the requisite political skills and the ability to compromise. Somewhat vain and aloof, he refused to consult with his cabinet and advisers. His ineptness became apparent during a crisis in foreign affairs. An insurrection in Rome had driven the pope from the city. Gioberti sought ways to restore him to power before the European governments intervened. His attempts failed. The French army occupied the Papal States and ended the short-lived Roman Republic. The popular uprisings of 1848—particularly the one in Rome—left Pius frightened, embittered, and vindictive. He disavowed all progressive ideas and reforms, placed Gioberti’s Del primato morale e civile degli italiani on the Index (list of works banned by the Church), and restored authoritarian rule to the Papal States.

Gioberti resigned in February, 1849, over the crisis in Tuscany. A popular uprising there had opened the way for unification with Piedmont. He refused to send troops to secure the region, and Austrian forces eventually restored order. In the spring of 1849, he accepted the post of ambassador to France and remained in Paris until his death. His frustrating experience in Italian politics led him to write Il rinnovamento civile d’Italia (the civil renewal of Italy) in 1851. By this time, he had accepted the position of other political moderates that national unification was possible only under the auspices of the king of Piedmont-Sardinia. Gioberti died suddenly on October 26, 1852, leaving many of his writings unfinished.

Significance

In calling for papal leadership in Italy, Vincenzo Gioberti revived Guelphist politics—a tradition that dated from the Middle Ages, when the popes vied with the Holy Roman Emperors for political power in Europe. As a neo-Guelphist, he sought to restore papal authority as the moral and political arbiter of Christian nations. His critics dismissed this as a medieval solution to a modern problem, but some of Gioberti’s ideas were validated by subsequent events.

Gioberti’s belief that Italy needed to build a strong navy and acquire a colonial empire reflected foreign policy goals followed by Italian governments until the end of World War II. The idea of making Italy “from above” was ultimately affirmed in the statesmanship of Count Cavour. For all of his assurances of the “moral and civil primacy of the Italians,” Gioberti actually had little faith in the political maturity of his countrymen. He believed in paternalistic, Christian government—“everything for the people, nothing by the people.” As he had envisioned, Italy was unified without the involvement of most Italians, but this lack of popular participation in the unification process ultimately proved a source of political weakness for the new Italian state.

Bibliography

Beales, Derek, and Eugenio Biagini. The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy. Rev. 2d ed. Harlow, England: Longman, 2002. This examination of the relationship between the Italian national movement and Italian unification includes chapter 12, “Gioberti’s ’philosophy.’”

Berkeley, C. F. H. Italy in the Making. Vol. 1. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1932. This survey of Italian unification is a helpful source. The author, sympathetic to the Roman Catholic Church and the moderate political elements in the unification movement, deals at length with Gioberti’s intellectual and political contributions.

Coppa, Frank J., ed. Dictionary of Modern Italian History. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985. Contains a brief biography of Gioberti taken from Italian sources.

DiScala, Spencer. Italy from Revolution to Republic: 1700 to the Present. 3d ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2004. Part three provides information about the Risorgimento, mentioning Gioberti’s role within the movement.

Gioberti, Vincenzo. Essay on the Beautiful. Translated by Edward Thomas. London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1860. An English translation of one of Gioberti’s several published works.

Grew, Raymond. A Sterner Plan for Italian Unity: The Italian National Society in the Risorgimento. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963. Places Gioberti in the broader context of the moderate political tradition in the unification movement.

Mack Smith, Denis. The Making of Italy, 1796-1870. New York: Harper & Row, 1968. A survey of the Italian unification movement, more balanced than Berkeley’s history in its assessment of Gioberti and the political moderates.