National consciousness and language education in Italy in the XIX century

Abstract

The paper investigates the relationship between national sentiment and language teaching in nineteenth-century Italy, between the Risorgimento uprisings and the reform of public education (Casati Act) at the dawn of national unification. The debate involved several authors, who addressed the issue of language education more or less directly. Before 1848, we will examine the case of Vincenzo Cuoco and the post-revolutionary context in Naples in 1799, where language was the driving force behind love of country. Between 1848 and the 1860s, we will explore the views of the pedagogue Vincenzo De Castro, as well as Carlo Cattaneo and exponents of his circle (such as Paolo Marzolo and Gabriele Rosa), who proposed, in different ways, a method of language teaching centered on the people and the priority of practice over theory.