Abstract

The restoration governments glimpsed in the scientific academies an excellent propaganda tool to strengthen relations with the élites on their domains. a typical example is represented by the reshape of the Buongusto academy of Palermo in the academy of Sciences and Fine Letters, implemented in 1832 by Leopold of Bourbon. this episode demonstrates the will to push the Sicilian élite to abandon its aspirations of independence in return of being able to claim its own otherness from the mainland part of the Kingdom.