Interpreting the Risorgimento: Blasetti's "1860" and the Legacy of Motherly Love
Author(s): Gabriella Romani
Source: Italica, Vol. 79, No. 3 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 391-404
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Italian
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Blasetti's the Interpreting Risorgimento:
1860 and the Legacy MotherlyLove of Alessandro Blasetti's1860has recentlybeen the focus of literaryand film criticism,which analyzedvariousaspectsof the film, including the didactic and ideologicalnatureof the director'sintelpretationof the
For
Risorgimento.1 his reading of this memorableItalian past, Blasetti used both domestic and foreign sources of artistic inspiration. Critics have traced, for example, the origin of his cinematicnarrativeto Soviet realistfilms and to Macchiaioli painters(DalleVacche105;Landy184;Hill An
"TheArt of History"). additionaldomesticsourceof influencemay be found in the Risorgimento femaleiconographyproducedby nineteenthwritersand artists,which sprangfromwhat laterin the centurypatriotic Both during the century came to be known as "questionefemminile."2 and the first decades of the twentieth century,the
Risorgimentoperiod
question of women's educationand role in society constituteda central and theme in the public discourseon the social transformation modernization of Italy.From Giuseppe Mazzini's enthrallingcall to women to of fulfilltheirspecificmissionin the processof moralregeneration Italyto the Fascistregime's"cultof motherhoodin the name of building nationstate power" (De Graziaxi), the female figure representeda commonly used rhetoricalstrategy for the projectionof an idealized image of a renewed Italy. of Blasetti'srepresentation gender identitiesand, more specifically,of the female protagonistin 1860 can be viewed within this projectof cultural renovation of Italy.Gesuzza, as well as the other more marginal intentto find in the in female characters the film, exemplifythe director's models of viableautochthonous Italianpast of the Risorgimento glorified urbanItaliansociety,seen as behaviorto be promotedin the fast-changing
Blasetti
For too open to foreignparadigmsof modernity. these portrayals, relied on the iconography of Risorgimentoheroines, and on popular
The
female representations. patrioticliterimages of nineteenth-century and visual art produced during the Risorgimentooften ature, music, represented Italy allegorically as a woman, sometimes portrayed in chains (as a symbol of her oppression)and other times as a mother- a brothers and sisters."Cara
Italia,"
unifyingforceforthe progenyof Italian
Alessandro Manzoni wrote in his ode Marzo1821, "Eccoalfin dal tuo intomo a' tuoi santicolori/ Forti,armatide' propri seno sbocciati/ Stretti dolori / I tuoi figli son sortia pugnar!" 85-88)And Francesco
(73,
Hayez, a in 1882createdseveralversionsof
Romantic
prominent painter, beginning
Volume79 Number 3 (2002)
ITALICA

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I Vespri a siciliani, story that was particularly popularin patriotichagioa Frenchsoldier's molestationof a young marriedwoman that graphy: supposedly sparkedthe 1282Sicilianinsurrections againstthe Angevins' domination. Hayez's paintings prominentlyfeatured the figure of the
Sicilianwoman, representedas the symbol of Italianhonor violated by foreign powers (Banti66-69; 84). As Risorgimentowriters and artists infused their works with a fundamentalcall for liberationfrom foreign corruption and political occupation, the portrayalof Italy as woman served the moral and political claim for unification- a claim rhetorically presented as a need to re-establishand protectthe Italiannational honor.Blasettidrew from this traditionof allegoricalfemale representations as he cinematicallyinvoked a culturalrebirthof Italy and Italian cinema, batteredby the disastrouseconomic outcome of World War I and by the inundationof foreignculturalproducts.
Whereasboth protagonists,
Gesuzzaand Carminiddu,canbe viewed as symbolizingfascisteffortsof ruralization restoration traditional and of it is the role of the female protagonistto synthesize values, patriarchal cinematicallythe fascist desire to reconcilethe demands of modernity with the will to maintain fundamentally
Suchsynthea
traditional society.3 sis restsupon what, in fascist,and, more generallynationalistic policies,is in fact,proposesthe considereda pillarof sociallife:motherhood.4
Blasetti,
figure of the mother and the trope of motherlylove as a focalizing element for his generalagendaof endorsementof Risorgimento values. The female character, in motherlyfashion,becomes a main thus, represented carrierof Blasetti'scinematicprojectof Risorgimento myth-making. The director'srepresentation femininityin 1860is centralyet subof servient to his general programof culturalreawakening.As Lucia Re of pointsout, the fascisttheorization woman'snatureand rolein societyis first and foremost a "culturalconstructionof gender,"that is, a discursive practicecomprisedof certainmechanisms,tactics,and devices (76).
Feministfilm theoristshave pointed out the way in which cinematicrepresentationsof women have often relied on a fixed iconographythat is
"introducedto aid understandingand provide the audience with basic factswith which to comprehend narrative" the (ohnston 32).Blasettidid not believe in a utilitarian purposefor cinemabut recognizedthe importance of creatinga narrativeto which the general public could relate.5
Womanas an icon of the Risorgimentoimagery provided him with an effectivetool to communicatehis idealized vision of the past and a unified perceptionof a currentnationalbody politic.Similarto the postwar
Italiancinema studied by MillicentMarcus,1860 presents a feminized of body politic.6Accordingto Marcus,postwarcinematicrepresentations
Italian national identity depend on traditionaldualistic portrayals of women. De Santis,Fellini,Scola,and De Sica,just to mentionsome of the directorsincluded in Marcus'sstudy,all use the metaphorof a feminized of 330).Although body politicfor "theircritique the nationalself"(Marcus

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Blasetti's1860

393

of
Blasetti's
film constitutes promotion a rather thana critique the national he neverthelessprivilegesthe femalebody as a term of relationfor self, national collective identity.7Such relationis renderedthrough the promotion of a traditional notionof femininity, of woman as mother- a that had sincethe nineteenthcentury, been a centraltenet of the figure,which, uses the
As
Hill bourgeoisdoctrineof the family. Sarah has noted,"Blasetti conventionsof familyrepresentation conflatenationand family,telling to the story of the 'Italianfamily' throughthe story of a single family,that of Carmeloand Gesuzza"(FamilyResemblance142). In such a vision, the familial nucleus is perceived as a microcosmof the whole society, with the mother being the connectinglink between private and public of spheresof life:the symbol and guarantor the unity of the single cell as well as of the whole body of the Italiannation.
Whilestronglyindebtedto current fascistdebateson genderdefinition for his protagonist'sportrayalas a motherlyfigure,Blasettialso relied on a historicalantecedentthat was the female patriotof the Risorgimento.
The literatureof the Risorgimento offerstwo basic archetypesof female
The
mater and dolorosa anotherof mater that salvifica. first patriotism, of the as a mother deprived of her martyred type representsthe woman who, becomesthe symbolof sacrifice children, peoplefighting imposedon Italian for forthe causeof national
Eleonora
unification.
Ruffini, example mother of the patriotbrothersIacopoand GiovanniRuffini,the firstdeceased in prison and the second long exiled in England- has been celebratedin literature a modelof femalevirtueforherabilityto endure as Risorgimento
The
and personifythe pain causedby the loss of herchildren.8 motherpar excellence,however,of Risorgimento hagiographywas AdelaideCairoli, at whose memorywas still commemorated the time Blasettiwas making
1860.9She was the mother of BenedettoCairoli,prime minister of Italy from 1878to 1881,and, also, of four other childrenwho perished in the
Fromthe time of herfirstchild'sdeathin makingof the Italianunification.
1849, Adelaide Cairoli, a close friend of both Giuseppe Mazzini and
Giuseppe Garibaldi,became a living monument to the struggles of
Italy for liberation.However, it was with the death of her fourth child,
Giovanni, in 1869that her personalsacrificegarneredincreasingpublic recognition.Throughofficialceremonies(she was made honorarycitizen of several cities) and tributes,such as Giosue Carducci'spoem entitled
"In morte di Giovanni Cairoli"(1870),and GualbertaAlaide Beccari's
Albo (1872), Adelaide Cairolibegan to be regarded as a "miracolodi abnegazione patria"and "madrecittadina."(Beccarixii, xv). Mazzini's words of condolencein 1869perhapsbest summarizethe auraof sanctified female heroismthat surroundedthe name of Adelaide Cairoli:
La vostra famiglia sara, quando avremo liberta vera, virtu, unita e coscienza di Popolo, una pagina storica della Nazione. Le tombe dei vostri figli sarannoaltari.I loro nomi starannotrai primi nella litaniadei

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vostri Santi. E voi che educaste le anime loro, voi che li avete veduti sparirea uno a uno, patendo ci che soltantouna madre pub intendere, ma non disperando,rimarrete simboloa tuttidel doloreche redimee sansolenne alle donne italiane e insegnamentodel come la tifica, esempio famigliapossa essereci6 che deve, e sinoranon e, Tempio,santuariodella
Patriacomune. (8)

After her death in 1871,a statuewas commissionedby the city of Pavia and executed by the Florentinesculptor,GerolamoMasini;her family chapel in Gropellowas restoredand opened to the public in 1938, in a ceremony presided over by the King and Queen of Italy;and in 1943 a biography of her life was published in which the author,MariaMagni, relevancefor Italianwomen of the patriemphasized the contemporary otic message personifiedby Adelaide Cairoli.
Tothe mater saltifica groupbelongthosewomen whose rolesas mothers and educatorswere deemed crucialin the processof moral and political transformation Italy.For theirbeneficialinfluence on children- the of futuregenerationof Italians women were hailedas the country'ssalvation from its past of moralvice and corruption.
GiulianaMolino Colombini, ErminiaFua Fusinato, and CaterinaFranceschiFerrucd, famous nineteenth-centurypedagogues and writers, wrote extensively on the political mission of women as educators.10
Notably, the debate on the in delladonna the nineteenthcenturyand at the beginning of the questione twentieth centurywas inextricablyconnectedto the process of reformation of the educationalsystem.Evenbeforethe Casatiand CoppinoLaws introduced (1859and 1877,respectively) mandatory elementaryschooling for all, female education had played a centralrole in the debate on the cultural and social development of Italy.11
Based on the belief that "la donna informai costumidei popoli pii che non faccianogli uomini stessi conle leggi"(Pastorini the campaign the "nationali7ation" Italians of for
59),
a processthatwould favorthe creationof a new Italiancollective
(thatis,
la
"Educare donna identity) relied stronglyon women's participation.12 educarei figli a sentimentidi caritae giustizia,all'amoredella patriae per educarela donna per dissiparel'ignoranzae i pregiudell'indipendenza, dizi del popolo" (Pastorini10).While excuded fromthe formalpolitical arena, women were seen as effective executors of those educational effortsItaly was makingvia institutionalreforms.
Nineteenth-century writings devoted to the female role in Italian society portrayedwomen as the primarycustodiansof nationalmorality and the main inspirationalfigures for the actions of their children and husbands.13 GiuseppeMazzini,for instance,the strugglefor a politFor unified Italywas conceivedas firstof all a mission,a common duty ically to be allocatedto both sexes accordinglyto theirroles in society."Oh!Se le donne intendesserotutte, come alcune intendono, la loro missione!"
Mazziniwrote "Seintendesserola loro potenza,e la svolgesserobene! Se

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Blasetti's1860

395

con d'ozioe di corrutela, riconsacrarsi un apostovolessero,anzichepascersi lato sublime di libertY, costituirsi,colla gioventi che le circonda,ispirae tria di magnanimifatti,e di generososentire!"
(20).Changesin national and costumes were hailed as the panacea to the social and mentality political problems of Italy,as Foscolo had also pointed out in his essay
"Women Italy"in 1826.14 of Institutional reforms, throughoutthe century, especially within the educational system, emphasized the ideological vision of the female social and politicalmission.
Startingfrom the writings of women patriots in the late 1840s, the discourse on women's role in nineteenth-centuryItaly assumed a fundamentally conservativestance toward the national and international claimsfor gender equality.Italianmoderatethoughtrejectedforeignparadigms of female emancipationon the basis of a nationalisticassumption that feminism,in the Europeansense, did not reflectthe true Italian essence. Thus,in the pages of Ladonna, periodicaldevoted to women's a issues founded by GualbertaAlaide Beccari(a close friend of Adelaide
Cairoli),GiulianaMolino Colombinirefutedthe politicalideas of Jenny a d'Hericourt, French-American proponentof femalelegal emancipation, in on the basis of a supposedfundamental diffeennce nationalapproaches to feminism,formulated termsof "raziocniofrancese in controsentimento italico"(PieroniBortolotti Traditionalism, moderatesargued,was the 32). specificto Italiancharacter the Italianway, as distinctfromthe British or French and way,of addressing resolvingthe questionof women'semancipation.It was the same movementthat,in oppositionto the campaigns
Mozzoni,
AnnaKuliscioff, AnnaMaria and promoted JessieWhiteMario, by affirmedthe secondaryimportanceof legal emancipationin the life of a le che woman,"confortata spirituale il cristianesimo aveva dall'eglaglianza guadagnato,a sollievo appunto di questa rinunciamondana"(Pieroni
Bortolotti32). Catholicsand mazziniansalike envisioneda Risorgimento forwomen as a reawakening theirsenseof civicduty and,as an outcome of of this process,a gradualimprovement theirsocialconditions. of della moderateviews on the questione donna played Nineteenth-century a significant in shapingthe fascist stanceon genderrelations. role ideological
De
As Victoria Graziapointedout, "fascist policiestowardwomen were at every moment conditionedby the legacy of institutionsthe dictatorship and inherited from the liberalstate"(10).What late nineteenth-century fascistpoliciestowardwomen had in commonwas the beliefthatwomen were assigned a specific mission, that of being the catalyzers of true nationalchanges.ForGiovanniGentile,forinstance,ministerof education and main theorizerof fascist ideology, the true differencebetween the sexes was not to be found in anatomicalor physiological differences between men and women but ratherin their distinct and yet complealla mentarymissionsin society,"ritomando sanaconcezionedella donna che e donna, e non e uomo, col suo limite e quindi col suo valore"(83).
Women and men had to fulfill the roles that contemporarysociety as

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well as tradition had specifically assigned them. In particular,Gentile emphasized the "high mission" given to women in their role as participants in the process of social and culturaltransformationof Italy - a concept modeled on the rhetoricof gender differentiationprovided by
Risorgimentoliterature.15
The relationsbetween Blasetti'scinema and Gentile'sphilosophical theorieson historicalcontinuityand nationalunity have been amply discussed in otherstudies.Thepertinentaspectof those relations,here,concerns the way in which Blasettiresortedto the Risorgimentoideals and formulations,for his own elaboraiconography,via Gentile'stheoretical tion of modem Italiansociety.His vision of genderrolesadoptedGentile's notionof sexual difference but distinctions, rather based,not on "natural" on a "concetto,un modo di pensaree quindi di sentire," which is developed essentiallyon a moralplain and within the constructsprovidedby culture (Gentile 84). The individual, Gentile wrote, "solo in quanto sa quel che egli e, mediantela cultura,acquistala coscienzadi quel che deve essere,ossia del mondo moraleche egli deve realiz7are" ForBlasetti,
(85).
cinema fostered such moral cohesion among its spectators.And for the promotion to be truly effective it had to rely on national iconography.
Female iconography,in particular,promoted the affirmationof traditional modalities of femininity,which played a significantpart in the
Italianfascistcinema'sconstruction circulation a gender discourse and of on modernity.16
Blasetti'scharacterization the female protagonist,Gesuzza, always of presentedas a daughter,wife, or mother,strippedof that modem notion of individualitythatGentileidentifiedas partof a materialism rationand alism foreignto the Italianessence,becomes part of Blasetti'sattemptto formulatean Italianway of addressingthe questionsof modernityand of the social and culturaltransformations modem times had forcefully that The director'ssearchfor an authenticrepresentationof brought forth.17
'Italianness'and Italianwomanhood is conducted,however, primarily withinthe realmof myths.Myth,as RolandBarthes explains,is a synthesis
117of a conceptalreadyexistingand historically
(Barthes
reappropiiated
19). By offering a mythical vision of the Risorgimento,Blasetti is not inventing anythingbut ratheris reiteratinga notion (of historicalcontinuity) that was pervasive in the fascist rhetoricof political legitimacy.
Becausemyth " is speech stolen and restored" is defined not "bythe and object of its message but by the way in which it utters this message,"
Blasettineed only find new signifiersfor the expressionof the Risorgimento 'sign;' Gesuzza as a motherly figure constitutes one of them
(Barthes125, 109).
In 1860,Gesuzza along with the other nameless female figures of the film all reflectthis one basic female prototype,the mother.Despite the fact that she is a newly wed woman (she has been marriedfor only ten is days),the femaleprotagonist essentiallyportrayedas a motherlyfigure.

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Blasetti's1860

397

At the very beginningof the film, she is introducedin a relational configurationwith differentmale figures:she is Carminiddu's wife, her father's daughter and her brother's older sister. The opening scene in which
Gesuzza lies on the groundnext to her husbandand is awakenedby her younger brother,Totuzzo, who remains with her when Carminiddu leaves, introducesGesuzza'sessentiallack of individuality.Though she is supposed to be a patriot,her patriotismcan be viewed only through her support to the male family members'heroic deeds. In respectto the at briefappearance the dependentnatureof Gesuzza,heryoung brother's constitutesthe becauseit significance, opening of the film has paramount first referenceto the motherly nature of the protagonist.The scene in which she embracesTotuzzoin fact foreshadowsthe tragic events that are about to unfold: the child will soon be killed by foreign mercenary soldiers and his death will mark the beginning of the cinematicrepresentationof the human toll paid by the countryfor its claim of national independence.Like a motherwho is about to lose her child, Gesuzza is framedin a sequence of close-upswith Michelangelesqueevocationsof but human piety and sacrifice.The child disappearsfrom the narrative, her image as a sorrowfulmotherresonatesthroughoutthe film.
If one should describethe most frequentpose that the female protagonist of 1860assumes throughoutthe film,it is safe to affirmthatit is one of iconographicstillness.The frequentclose-ups on Gesuzza'sface and the fixed staticimages of the heroineelevateher to the statusof icon. The is evocative natureof the female character supposed to elicit identificaAn tion between spectatorand protagonist. example of this type of association can be found in the scene when Carminidduarrives in Civitavecchia and finds himself in French controlled territory.The Sicilian patriothas just left his homeland,his missionfor politicalactionis still to
At
be realized,and the futureof a unifiedpoliticalItalyis all too uncertain. of this point,Blasettioffersan elementof encouragement, patrioticenthuof siasm to the Italiancause.Thecamerapans fromthe portrait Napoleon
IIIto one of Sofiaof Bavariaand finallyto a close-up of Gesuzza,who is in Sicily,imprisoned by foreign mercenarysoldiers. While the camera slowly makes its movementof associationbetween French,Germanand
Italian iconographicimages, we hear in the backgrounda male voice stating that Frenchpeople appreciatefemale beauty. A Frenchwoman
The
then adds that she is truly happy to be back on Frenchterritory.18 panning from Frenchto Italianterritory(Sicily),from Frenchto Italian exists on Italian femininebeauty suggestsnot only that such appreciation soil as well, but that Italianselevate their women to a higher status of admiration.They are granted the representationand respect given to and imperialfigures, such as Napoleon III Sofia of Bavaria.Gesuzza, in as spite of her humblesocialorigin,is portrayed an icon.Suchadmiration is substantiatedby the following scene in which Gesuzza remainsloyal mission. to the patriotic causeand refusesto revealthe detailsof Carmine's

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ROMANI

Thesoldiersthreaten executeheralongwith the priesther fatherand all to the otherinsurrectionists, she does not yield to the threats. but Her beauty and loyalty are presentedas partof that nationalpride and patrimonyof values (i.e.,family,nationalunity,socialand genderharmony)thatBlasetti had allocatedat the centerof his readingof the Risorgimento
History.
As all iconsdo, Gesuzzaprovidesan imageto be observedand admired.
Sheis supposedto be inspiringby way of transcendence, by bringing and the viewers' attentiontoward a spirituallyand morally higher plane of human thought-the culturaland historicalvalue of the Risorgimento ideals. Both Gesuzza's husband and father are Sicilian shepherds who fight against the Bourbonsfor the unificationof Italy.Gesuzza as well is devoted to the nationalcause of liberation, her active engagementin but the fight is constrained a constantreminderthather functionis one of by inspirationratherthan executionof Risorgimentovalues. When Carminiddu, her husband, leaves Sicily in orderto join Garibaldiand his followers in Genoa, Gesuzza is not only forced to stay behind, but is also excludedfromthe processof politicalawarenessto which Carminidduis instead exposed and into which he is eventuallyidealisticallyintegrated.
Theirseparationbecomes symbolicof the human and personalsacrifice endured by Risorgimentopatriots,but while Carminiddupursues the
Gesuzzastaysbehind(alwaysstandingliterallya
activism, pathof patriotic few inchesbehindherfatheror husband)waitingfor the eventsto unfold.
This traditionalportrayalof genderbehavioris reinforced the subby sequent development of events. Carminiddu,in his wandering around
Northern Italy,acquiresa political consciousness of personal responsibility to the cause that he did not have beforeleaving Sicily;Gesuzza,by virtue of remaininganchoredto her initiallocation,will never gain such will always be infantile insights and, politicallyspeaking,her character and necessarilydependenton male guidance.Theinfantilismof her characteris announced in the scene that precedes the final battle. Standing above Gesuzza, Carminidduexplains to her with a reassuringparental tone of voice the importanceof joining all efforts,including the Sicilian one, in the fight for liberation.This dialogue replicatesalmost verbatim the content of a previous scene in which Colonel Carinipatronizingly lack of patrioticresponsibility(he was caught reproachedCarminiddu's while abandoningthe militarycampsitein orderto visit his wife whom he had not seen for a month).Now the Sicilianpatriotpasses the lesson onto his wife, by virtue of hierarchical transmissionof the patrioticmessage.
Gesuzza diligently listens to him and, though she would ratherforget about the battle that is about to take place, at the end she consents and embracesthe nationalmilitarycause.Her politicalfervor enthusiastically does not last long, however. She is soon taken away from the battleground, with an excuse she credulouslybelieves, and is relegatedto the backgroundof the scene of the final militaryoffense.

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If Gesuzza cannotactivelyparticipate the politicalstrugglefor libin she is affordedthe role of inspirerto the fighters.In light of this eration, definitionof genderroles(activeparticipant/passive
Gesuzzais
inspirer), firstand foremostan image,a myth,the exemplification the film's narof rativepromise to restoredignity and orderto an Italy still obsessed with its nationaland international
Thereis no realcharacterization reputation. of Gesuzza.Her character not described,we know very little of her,of is what she does, of what she thinks;despite the film's proto-neorealistic cinematiceffortsshe is neithera shepherdessnor a patriotbut ratheran of evocativeimage of a supposedfemaleItalianness. is the incarnation
She
an idea;she is the carrier a cultural of of a traditional a signifier myth, Italy, emptied of its original denotativemeaning and filled with the illusionary presence of the mother,a figure purposefullygreaterthan all of the femalecharacters together. a cut-outfigure,an icon,she is assumed
Like
put to evoke and invoke the ideal of unificationabove all class, regionaland gender differences.
Thisunitaryall-encompassing
vision is synthesizedin the finalbattle scene by the image of Gesuzza as the mother of all Italians.Gesuzza is runningin the battlefieldstumblingover the bodies of slain patriots.She suddenly stops by a wounded soldier,whom she initially mistakes for
Carminiddu.It is, instead,the body of a young Venetiansoldier,last seen expeditionto Sicilywas by the shoreof QuartonearGenoa,as Garibaldi's departing.That scene capturedthe dramaticfarewellbetween the garibaldini theirmothersand wives. Panningfromone soldierto another, and the camerapauses on the embrace the Venetian soldierwith his mother, of a scene that is commentedon by anotherpatriotwith words of praise for the sanctityof the Italianmotherswho are giving up theirchildrento the cause.The mother,here,all dressedin blackand mournfulfor the departure of her son, whose death we witness in the final scene, strongly resemblesthe historicalfigureof the most famous Risorgimentowidow, her AdelaideCairoli.The memoryof the woman who had sacrificed four children to the cause of Italianunificationand who had rushed to the shoresof Quartoto meet Garibaldi bless her two childrenwho were and was takingpartin the expedition19 still very much alive in the 1930sand
1940s,and Blasettipurposefullyused it to add historicalsignificanceto his portrayalof maternalsacrifice.
The theme of motherlylove is presentedas the common denominator of the initial and final scenes narratingGaribaldi's expeditionto Sicily.It announces and synthesizes the heroism of those who fought for Italian politicalindependenceand its futureas a nation.Blasettichoseto celebrate not individualbut collectiveheroism.Garibaldi rarelyappearsin 1860and his wife, Anita,an icon of Risorgimento femalehagiography, mentioned is twice. Her absence,however,is only apparentas Anita'sname rings as a painfulreminderof the perilsand sacrificeenduredby patriotswho had

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ROMANI

to either leave their wives behind or loose them. (Anita died in 1849 during
Garibaldi'scampaign against Austria near Ravenna.) Gesuzza stays behind, but her heroism is cinematically asserted through visions of motherly love. The climax of this representation is achieved at the end of the film, when the protagonist leans toward the wounded Venetian soldier who thinks she is his mother. At this moment, Gesuzza is invested with the sacred duties of motherhood. She represents not only the soldier's missing mother but the mother of all Italians, as the playing of the national anthem suggests. It is not Gesuzza the character (the Sicilian shepherdess) that the spectator is supposed to recognize in this scene but the ideal she incarnates, the myth of national cultural heritage with which spectators were supposed to identify. As the soldier dies, Carminiddu arrives screaming with joy that Italy has been made, while the camera pans across the battleground and over the bodies of dead soldiers. This final scene of heroic death culminates Blasetti's allegorical narrative on historical continuity, in which human sacrifice, personal and collective, is monumentalized and turned into a cinematic commemoration of the incipit of the Italian moder nation.20
For a film to be truly a national creation, Blasetti argued, it had to be
"italiano nel contenuto, nello spirito, nelle conclusioni, oltre e piu che nei luoghi e nelle persone della vicenda" (146). In light of this basic tenet of the director's cinematography, Gesuzza, as a character,represents a concept, an idea of female Italianness, which is personified by different characters
(the soldier's mother, the Sicilian shepherdess) and rendered by a single modality of maternal femininity. "Abbiamo fatto l'Italia"concludes cheerfully Carminiddu and the scene, suggestive of the famous motto pronounced by D'Azeglio, seems to indicate that now "Bisogna fare gli italiani."21That final embrace of Carminiddu and Gesuzza invokes a rebirth of Italy and arouses patriotic and sentimental responses from viewers, allured into a project of idealized national renovation via the historical legitimization of the Risorgimento.
GABRIELLA ROMANI
Princeton University
NOTES
della o dell'estetica''esteti777aione politica'?
"'Politici7.7a7ione
1See:SilviaCarlorosi,
18.2 (2000):87-104; Jo Ann Cannon,
ItalianCulture
1860 di Alessandro
Blasetti,"
ItalianCulture
National
of
1860 andthe Construction an Italian
"Blasetti's
Identity," of Blasettiand the Representations
18.1 (2000): 141-54; CarloCelli, "Alessandro
The
16.2
Fascism the 1930's," in ItalianCulture (1998):99-109;DalleVacche, Bodyin
Ruth
in
Tradition Blasetti's theMirror Ben-Ghiat,
1860";
96-120, andalsoher"National

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Blasetti's 1860

401

and
"EnvisioningModernity," herlatestwork,Fascist Modernities:
Italy 1922-1945 also in Italianas La culturafascista; Hill, "TheArt of History"69-84, and her "A published Family Resemblance?"
2Fora historicaloverview of nineteenth-century discussionson women's emancipation, see: Eugenio Garin,"Laquestionefemminile,"Belfagor 7 (Gennaio,1962): 18-41;
FrancaPieroni Bortolotti,Alle origini del movimentofemminile in Italia 1848-1892;
MichelaDe Giorgio,Le italiane dall'unitaa oggi (Roma:Laterza,1992) 3-38.
3For an analysis of the conflict between traditional modernisttendencieswithin and fascist ideology, see De Grazia,
How FascismRuled Women:
Italy 1922-1945; RuthBenBarbara
Fascist Vrilities:Rhetoric,Ideology,and
Ghiat,Fascist Modernities;
Spackman,
Fantasy in Italy (Minneapolis:U of MinnesotaP, 1996).
4See De Grazia,How Fascism RuledWomen:
Italy 1922-1945 (41-76); Re, "Fascist
Theoriesof 'Woman'and the Construction Gender." of 5In 1950 Blasetti wrote:"'Messaggio'richiamail concettodi missione liberamentee umanoverso gli nobilmentesposataper amoredel prossimo,per meritorioatteggiamento uomini.Un registache pensassequestodi s6, o lasciasse gli altripensarlo,farebberidere.
La nostra professione si esercita necessariamenteattraversol'altoparlantedestinato a milioni di uomini."A year later,he said in regardto the audience:"Io lavoro esclusivache mente per il pubblico.Non penso che si debbapretendere il pubblicoarrivia noi, ma sono dell'opinione che si debba scenderea lui. E mi spiego. Chi fa del cinematografo comunqueha avuto il privilegio di una educa7ionee di una culturanon comuni, educazione e cultura che non sono quelle del popolo. Pertanto,quando s'inizia un film il bisogna fare attod'umilta,non parlare linguaggiodel 'tranoi ci s'intende,'ma piuttosto che il pubblico potracapire.... Voglio dire soltantoche il problemapiii imporquello tantesta nel 'che cosa' si dice al pubblicoe che il secondo e di trovarei terminicon cui dirlo,"(Scrittisul cinema 208-09, 214).
6See Marcus,"TheItalianBody Politic is a Woman:FeminizedNationalIdentityin
PostwarItalianFilm."
7See Dalle Vacchewho wrote:"In1860 Blasettifabricates imagesof the Risorgimento of which might have looked real, or at least representative the period,to an audienceof the thirties.The ideological functionof this film is to celebrateandpromotethe diffusion of patrioticvalues ratherthan any criticalknowledge of 19th-century history. 1860 is a historicalconsciousness of the Fascistera looking back at the past and writing anew its in own history,"("NationalTradition Blasetti's1860" 75).
8See Gemma GiovanniniMagorio,Italiane benemerite(Milano: Casa EditriceLF.
Cantalamessa
nazionale,ed. GiuliaCavallari
Cogliati,1907);La donnanel Risorgimento
Le donne a scuola: l'educazione femminile nell'Italia
(Bologna: Zanichelli, 1893); dell'Ottocento (Mostra documentariae iconografica), ed. Ilaria Porciani (Firenze:
I1
Tipografia sedicesimo, 1987);Donne d'Italia:poetesse e scrittrici(Roma:Tosi, 1946).
90n Adelaide Cairoli,see: MariaMagni,AdelaideCairoli(Torino:Societa Subalpina
Alaide Beccari,AdAdelaide Cairolile donne italiane (Padova:
Editrice,1943); Gualberta
Premiata
Alla Minerva,1873); EugenioComba,Donne illustriitaliane,proposte ad
Tip.
esempio alle giovinette (Torino:Paravia,1872), Eroine, ispiratricie donne d'eccezione, ed. FrancescoOrestano(Roma:Tosi, 1946), Adelaide Cairoli e i suoifigli, ed. Erminia
GhiglioneGiulietti (Pavia:Casa EditriceRenzo Cortina,1960).

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402

GABRIELLA
ROMANI
10See CaterinaFranceschiFerrucci,Della educazione morale delle donne italiane

UnioneTipografico-Editrice,
MoliniColombini,
Pensierie
(Torino:
1855);Giuliana lettere sulla educazione della donna in Italia (Pinerolo: Tipografia di Giuseppe

wereextremely and several times. Chiantore,
1860).Theseworks
popular werereprinted
See Michela Giorgio10-13; Pieroni di Bortolotti
L'educazione
della
31-32; Pastorini, donna nelpensiero delle pedagogiste italiane del secolo XIX.
11SeeGianpaoloPerugi,Educazionee politica in Italia 1860-1900 (Torino:
Loescher,
ed.
1978);Educazionealfemminile:dallaparitdalla differenza, Emy Beseghi andVittorio

La
Telmon
Jovine,Storiadell'educazione
(Firenze: NuovaItalia,1992);DinaBertoni popolare in Italia (Bari:Laterza,1965);L'emancipazione femminile in Italia, un secolo di discussioni (1861-1961) (Firenze:La Nuova Italia, 1963).

121 with from that wereexcluded thenineteenthstatement women disagree De Grazia's it and
On
of of the century process "nationalization,""socialization" masses. thecontrary,is and that are the to education women integrated related female through policies discussions inwhat Grazia values De refers as"the to civicobligations, collective and virtues, personal in for like men,
Women, lower-class werenotgranted required citizenship nation-states." for theright voteuntilthetwentieth
As
the of to century. forwomen, question citizenship conbut of of lower-class wasnotformulated terms legalrights, rather paternalistic men in cessions way of gradual reforms institutional beingone of them).See De by (schooling
Grazia
6.
13SeeS. Bernard
"La
secondo romantici i OttolNovecento italiani," Chandler, donna
"TheSacrificeof Womenin the Nineteenth19.6 (1995): 177-82; AlbertSbragia,
Italian
Italiana eds.V.J.T.DeMara A. Tamburri and Novel,"
6,
Century
(1994):145-66.
Edizione
Nazionaledelle Operedi Ugo Foscolo
14UgoFoscolo,"TheWomenof Italy,"

17 (Firenze: Monnier,
Le
1978):471-562. this Gentile wrote: donna
"La
15In regard, per piu ogginondesidera i diritti cui lotdi si e a dinanzi all'uomo dinanzi se stessapermerito quelle tava;mala donna e elevata e morale inducestessepolemiche esasperavano lei la coscienza in dellasuadignita che e nellafamiglia vanol'uomoal riconoscimento missione alladonna che dell'alta spetta nellasocieta," quindi (82). in Fascist
Desire Discipline theItalian and Ben
16See Ghiat,
Modernity:
"Envisioning
Film"
113.
French Socialist, and a
17Giovanni
also
Gentile identified foreign matrix, specifically che "Maal femminismo, fu in theItalian
He
claimforgender feminist equality. wrote: naturalistica a quellaideologia movimento donnee di uomini di corrispondente perch6 del e francese sello stessosocialismo libertario Rivoluzione che fu l'egalitarismo della I del secoloscorso... accadde evangelica. quelche ai cercatori tesoronellaparabola la e dissodarono terra ne il ma che qualinontrovarono tesoro, nonesisteva; percercarlo ossia di benefico quellelottefemministe, feceroun tesoroperl'agricoltura....Effetto sono socialedelladonna, da alla dell'interesse morale esse suscitato intorno posizione delladonna,a pro' indubbiamente le leggi degliultimidecenni la protezione tutte per dellamaternitadell'infanzia," e
(82).

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Blasetti's 1860

403

18Thedialoguebetween the two Frenchspeakersis the following: Male voice: "Vous savez Madame,nous autresFrancaisnous sommes beaucoupplus sensibles au charme des femmes." Female voice: "Mon cher Lieutenant, suis veraimentcontente de me je retrouver la terrede France." sul in
19Thisevent is reportedby GiuseppeGaribaldi a letterto Miceli dated Settember in MariaMagni 163-64.
21, 1869, quoted
20Inthe originalversionof the film, this final scene was followed by anotherin which elderly garibaldiniwere seen togetherwith fascist Black shirts- a scene that made all the more evident Blasetti's emphasison the historicalcontinuitybetween Risorgimento historyand currentnationalpoliticalidentities.
21Accordingto SimonettaSoldani,the famous motto, "Fattal'Italiaora bisogna fare to gli italiani,"often quotedand historicallyattributed Massimo D'Azeglio was actually pronouncedby FerdinandoMarini.See SimonettaSoldani and GabrieleTuri, Fare gli
Italiani (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1993) 17.
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Torino:Einaudi,2000.
Banti,Alberto.La nazione del Risorgimento.
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Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. "EnvisioningModernity:Desire and Discipline in the ItalianFascist
Film." CriticalInquiry23.1 (1996): 109-44.
. Fascist Modernities:Italy 1922-1945. Berkeley:U of CaliforniaP, 2001.
. La culturafascista. Bologna:I1Mulino, 2000.
Scrittisul cinema.Ed.Adriano
Blasetti,Alessandro.
Apra.Venezia:MarsilioEditori,1982.
Dalle Vacche, Angela. The Body in the Mirror: Shapes of History in Italian Cinema.
Princeton,NJ: PrincetonUP, 1992.
. "NationalTraditionin Blasetti's1860." Film Criticism9.1 (1984): 74-81.
De Grazia, Victoria. How Fascism Ruled Women:Italy 1922-1945. Berkeley: U of
CaliforniaP, 1992.
Di Giorgio, Michela. Le italiane dall'unita a oggi: modelli culturali e comportamenti sociali. Bari: Laterza,1993.
Gentile, Giovanni. "La donna nella coscienza moderna."Preliminari allo studio del fanciullo. Firenze: Sansoni, 1969. 79-100.
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Landy,Marcia.Fascism in Italy. Princeton,NJ: PrincetonUP, 1993.

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Milano:
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Belgium: Brepols, 2000. 329-47.
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