“A People Grown Old in Revolutions”: Conflicting Temporalities and Distrust in 1815 Italy

Abstract

Although the Hundred Days are not normally regarded as an episode of significance to Italian history, by looking at literary reactions (poems, orations, novels) to the event and to the literary construction of Murat’s figure, and by considering unpublished material, this chapter draws a more faithful picture of the conflicting cultural responses of 1815 Italy. These responses were characterized by indecisiveness, weariness, confusion about legitimacy and consent, and a sense of loss: all signs of a post-traumatic crisis. This essay also challenges an historiographical interpretation of the events of 1815, which identifies them as the first phase of the Italian Risorgimento.