Spain and Italian question(s)

Abstract

Starting from an examination of the similarities that can be found between the political and constitutional situation in Italy and Spain around mid-19^th century, the essay goes into the ways through which the recognition of the Italian Kingdom by the Spanish monarchy could happen. The premise consists in the admiration which existed in Spain for the Italian culture. However, if, on the one hand, there was the sympathy of the progressists (“The revolution in Italy is our revolution, since Italian successes are also our history”), on the other, insurmountable dynastic links between the Spanish Bourbons and the Neapolitan ones subsisted. Thirdly the relationship between Isabel II, the Roman Curia and the Papal States was decisive, especially after the election of Pope Pius IX in 1846 and particularly with regard to the Roman Question. For the occasion there was also a Spanish military intervention, with mostly a symbolic meaning, which was however decisive in order to obtain the recognition of Isabel II’s kingdom by the Austrian government. All this caused long and interminable debates between 1848 and 1868 and produced complicate relationships with the new Italian Kingdom which was formally recognised only on the 15th of July 1865, notwithstanding that the public opinion, both progressist and moderate, was really favourable. Only the Austrian recognition would have arrived later.