Rome, National Risorgimento Award: recognitions to Catherine Brice, Giuliano Amato, Dino Messina and Maurizio Isabella.

Promote knowledge of the Italian Risorgimento and the fundamental political-cultural and civil values ​​that characterized it. At the same time, offering tangible recognition to the personalities, both Italian and foreign, who have distinguished themselves for their contribution to scientific research and historical dissemination on the themes, facts, figures and ideas which marked the Italian and European nineteenth century.

these the objectives of the National Risorgimento Award, organized by the Institute for the History of the Risorgimento (ISRI) with the patronage of the Ministry of Culture. The awards were presented on Friday, November 29, 2024, during a ceremony held in the Sala Spadolini of the Collegio Romano.

"The Risorgimento season, its civil and political-cultural values, the ideals of freedom and civil commitment – these are the words by the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, in a message read at the opening of the proceedings – acquire a farsighted character and represent the foundation of our national unity. The National Risorgimento Award has the merit of giving Italy a comprehensive vision that takes charge of the memory of all the individual parts, through historical research and an intellectual dialogue open to the diversity of opinions. The studies on the Risorgimento that are awarded are praiseworthy works by authors who have distinguished themselves beyond national borders, expressions of the pluralism of ideas, a precious antidote against dangerous forms of thought, ideological, intolerant and totalitarian".

"Over the last few months – has explained Alessandro Campi, director of ISRI – two juries composed of Italian and foreign scholars and journalists and cultural operators examined the various nominations collected. Not an easy job, considering the value of the names and volumes that were reported. But the choices made were ultimately well thought out and above all of great quality. History is by definition an instrument of knowledge and an identity factor. That of the Risorgimento, for a country like Italy, is even more so. And promoting its study is also one of the objectives that the Institute has always pursued. This Award in its first edition therefore also wants to be a symbolic recognition to all the great masters who over the decades have contributed to an increasingly detailed, critical and objective knowledge of our past".

Three sections are planned

The Lifetime Achievement Award, dedicated to an Italian or foreign personality who has made a significant scientific contribution to the study of the “long Risorgimento”.

The Prize for Historical Dissemination, intended for an Italian or foreign personality who has contributed significantly to the historical dissemination of the "long Risorgimento".

The Book of the Year Award, awarded to a historical work published in Italy or abroad that has offered an innovative contribution to studies on the “long Risorgimento”.

As regards the complex of scientific work, the Prize went to the French historian Catherine Brice, a long-time professor of contemporary history at the Institut d'études politiques in Paris and currently professor emeritus at the University of Paris. A student of Jacques Droz and Pierre Milza, Brice has studied Italian history between the 19th and 20th centuries throughout her academic career, of which she is considered one of the leading experts in France. A specialist in particular of the Risorgimento and liberal Italy, he has studied at length the relationship between the Savoy monarchy and national identity, the theme of political exile in its economic aspects, the policies of compensation for the political victims of the Risorgimento, the role of monumentality and of the political symbolism in the construction of the unitary state, the events of the city of Rome in the Napoleonic era.

The Prize for historical dissemination, awarded by a special jury, went to the journalist, writer and essayist Dino Messina, historic signature of the “Corriere della Sera”, a newspaper where he worked for thirty years and with which he collaborates with articles on current affairs and culture.

The Book of the Year Award, referring to works published, including abroad, during 2023, finally went to Maurizio Isabella, a long-time professor of Modern History at Queen Mary College of the University of London. A former research fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a Stanley J. Seeger Fellow at Princeton University, Isabella, one of the most brilliant historians of his generation, was awarded for his book “Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions,” published by Princeton University Press and dedicated to the dialectic of revolution-counterrevolution in the countries of the Mediterranean area in the early decades of the nineteenth century.

The Special Jury Prize was awarded to the President Emeritus of the Constitutional Court Giuliano Amato for his volume, published in 2023, “Once upon a time there was Cavour”.