Abstract

This paper takes as its starting point the exchange of letters (1859-1883) between two renowned men, Francesco Brioschi and Quintino Sella. Brioschi was founder and director of the Polytechnic of Milan until his death, as well as a mathematician of national and international renown and member of the Italian Parliament. Sella, mathematician and mineralogist of the University of Turin, was an illustrious man of government and culture and enjoyed great intellectual and international fame. The picture that evolves from the correspondence covers the immediate pre-unification period to the capture of Rome, and to the long predomination of the historical Right. In particular, the correspondence provides a picture of education with the men’s role in the founding of the two historical Polytechnics of Milan and Turin, as well as the cultural landscape. Then there was the re-opening of the Accademia dei Lincei of which Sella would be the first president, followed by Brioschi. Throughout their lives, the two men had other valuable, noted epistolary contacts with other men who were either leading players in the national renewal or «simple actors». Their correspondence illustrates the vivacity and immediacy of their personal contribution to unified Italy and particularly their view of history in the making.