Abstract

The article deals with the pro-Italian public meetings and lectures held in Great Britain from 1847 to 1864. Using contemporary British newspaper articles, private correspondence and archives, and diaries it examines the form, location, and frequency of the various philo-Italian activities; it explores the social profile of some leading speakers, the composition of the audience and its reactions, and the symbols displayed during the meetings. Pro-Italian activities, which were part of a more general platform supporting the struggle of foreign oppressed nationalities, helped creating and spreading the Italian national-patriotic discourse in Britain. The analysis of the platform, shedding lights on the issue of the mass participation and involvement in nationalistic movements, reveals the existence, in mid-Victorian Britain, of a widespread pro-Italian opinion actively endorsing the cause of Italian unification.