Abstract

The essay analyzes the ideological frameworks of thinkers and literary critics (Mazzini, Cattaneo, Tenca, Tarchetti) in the first half of the nineteenth century. It points out the main themes and examines their realization in the narrative texts from the late fifties; it describes Nievo's narrative work, even diaries and / or official writings, as the most effective representation of that cultural context and writers like Verga and Camillo Boito as the most critical voices of the Risorgimento unification.