(
Confessions of an Italian) is arguably Italy’s most important unknown novel of the nineteenth century—largely unknown, that is, beyond Italian borders. Written in 1858, when Ippolito Nievo was 27, and first published in 1867, the novel tells the story of the Italian Risorgimento—the decades-long “resurgence” by which Italians threw off foreign rule—in the lively, witty voice of one Carlo Altoviti, a patriot born in the Republic of Venice. Carlo’s many adventures and the scores of both fictional and historical characters he meets paint a broad panorama not only of the
ancien régime, the Napoleonic wars and the years of struggle before the Italian nation came into being, but of similar struggles in Greece and South America. A spirited appeal…
2730 words
Citation: Randall, Frederika. "Le Confessioni d'un italiano". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 September 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=28820, accessed 31 October 2024.]
