Abstract

Between the end of the Napoleonic era and the early years of the Restoration, the Carboneria, a secret society with a liberal orientation, enjoyed great success particularly in Southern Italy and gained a mass following. Rather than focusing on the ideological and political program of the Carboneria, this article aims to highlight its nature as an intermediary body within a civil society that was no longer feudal, but neither was it fully controlled by the State and by its jurisdiction.