Nine Congresses for Italian Scientists, based on the example of other European countries, were organised in Italy between 1839 and 1847, in the same number of cities on the peninsula (Pisa, Turin, Florence, Padua, Lucca, Milan, Naples, Genoa and Venice). They involved more than six thousand people - approximately one thousand of whom were foreigners - including academics, university professors, specialists and representatives of public institutions and technical, administrative and military organisations of the eight Italian states. During the course of two weeks of meetings, the participants - who reached a peak of 1613 in Naples - discussed various topics related to the Natural Sciences, in the strictest sense of the phrase, including medicine and agriculture. These meetings offer a comprehensive and precise panorama of the development of science in Italy in the 19th century, chronicling the scientific evolution of the age, the result also of the exchanges and debates which they made possible. In said Congresses, the specific demands of scientific research were combined with those of economic development and intertwined with the still rather confused feelings of national unity, as decalred by the growing ranks of "scholars" bound by a fervent love for the Italian motherland. In 1847 in Venice, on the occasion of the ninth Congress, the references to "nostra Italia" were so explicit they led to the early closing of proceedings due to the forceful intervention of the Austrian police. In 1861, with the first stage of the Unity of Italy underway, a vain attempt was made to resurrect the aforementioned travelling Congresses, revitalising them with the addition of humanistic themes. The one in Siena, in 1862, was a clear failure. This was somewhat predictable, given that the Unity had removed the obstacles that prevented such meetings and which - at the same time - provided a powerful and uncontollable stimulus to hold them.
Nove sono stati i Congressi degli Scienziati Italiani che, sull'esempio di altri Paesi europei, furono organizzati in Italia dal 1839 al 1847, in altrettante città della penisola (Pisa, Torino, Firenze, Padova, Lucca, Milano, Napoli, Genova e Venezia). Essi coinvolsero più di seimila persone - di cui circa mille straniere - tra accademici, docenti universitari, professionisti, esponenti di istituzioni pubbliche e di apparati tecnici, amministrativi e militari degli otto Stati italiani. Nel corso delle due settimane di incontri, i partecipanti - che raggiunsero la punta massima di 1613 a Napoli - discussero su vari argomenti relativi alle Scienze Naturali, intese nel loro più stretto significato, medicina e agricoltura incluse. Tali Riunioni offrono un panorama ampio e preciso dello sviluppo della scienza nell'Italia dell'800, storicizzando l'evoluzione scientifica dell'epoca, frutto anche degli scambi e dei dibattiti che esse resero possibili. In detti Congressi, le esigenze proprie della ricerca scientifica si uniscono con quelle dello sviluppo economico e si intrecciano con i sentimenti, ancorché confusi, di unità nazionale, declinati da schiere crescenti di "dotti" legati da un fervente amore per la Patria italiana. A Venezia, nel 1847, in occasione del nono Congresso, i riferimenti alla "nostra Italia" furono talmente espliciti da determinare la chiusura anticipata dei lavori per il brusco intervento della polizia austriaca. Nel 1861, attuata la prima fase dell'Unità d'Italia, si tentò invano di riesumare i Congressi itineranti anzidetti, rivitalizzandoli con l'aggiunta delle tematiche umanistiche. Quello di Siena, del 1862, ebbe un chiaro insuccesso. Fatto alquanto prevedibile, essendosi dissolti con l'Unità, quegl'impedimenti ad incontrarsi, che - nel contempo - ne avevano costituito stimolo potente ed irrefrenabile a farlo.
Gli scienziati italiani a congresso prima dell'Unità
2011
Abstract
Nine Congresses for Italian Scientists, based on the example of other European countries, were organised in Italy between 1839 and 1847, in the same number of cities on the peninsula (Pisa, Turin, Florence, Padua, Lucca, Milan, Naples, Genoa and Venice). They involved more than six thousand people - approximately one thousand of whom were foreigners - including academics, university professors, specialists and representatives of public institutions and technical, administrative and military organisations of the eight Italian states. During the course of two weeks of meetings, the participants - who reached a peak of 1613 in Naples - discussed various topics related to the Natural Sciences, in the strictest sense of the phrase, including medicine and agriculture. These meetings offer a comprehensive and precise panorama of the development of science in Italy in the 19th century, chronicling the scientific evolution of the age, the result also of the exchanges and debates which they made possible. In said Congresses, the specific demands of scientific research were combined with those of economic development and intertwined with the still rather confused feelings of national unity, as decalred by the growing ranks of "scholars" bound by a fervent love for the Italian motherland. In 1847 in Venice, on the occasion of the ninth Congress, the references to "nostra Italia" were so explicit they led to the early closing of proceedings due to the forceful intervention of the Austrian police. In 1861, with the first stage of the Unity of Italy underway, a vain attempt was made to resurrect the aforementioned travelling Congresses, revitalising them with the addition of humanistic themes. The one in Siena, in 1862, was a clear failure. This was somewhat predictable, given that the Unity had removed the obstacles that prevented such meetings and which - at the same time - provided a powerful and uncontollable stimulus to hold them.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
