1.

The research project ‘“Brigantaggio” Revisited’,Footnote ¹ which ran from 2020 to 2023, was funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research and focused on the practices and imagery of brigandage (and the fight against it). The project – co-ordinated by Carmine Pinto at the University of Salerno in partnership with the research units of Catania, Teramo and Bari-Pisa – was conceived in 2017–18 at a time when old research was being rediscovered, new studies undertaken, and the topic was receiving significant public attention. It formed part of a broader, dynamic period of research into the shaping of the modern world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, at a time when global history was also increasingly taking root. In Italy, new studies had been conducted in numerous fields: the area under the control of the Royal House of Bourbon; the end of Italy's old states; the nature of political violence; and the journeys taken by revolutionaries and exiles and their international networks and transnational communities. Researchers also delved into the communication networks and visual and material culture in the age of revolutions, constitutions and counter-revolutions. Within this context, the Risorgimento – viewed not only as a nation-building operation, but also as the process of installing and experimenting with the new politics within the Italian peninsula – represented a privileged scenario.

Various successful publications and projects that appeared around the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Italy's unification in 2011 had also, conversely, provided an original reinterpretation of the already controversial relationship between the Mezzogiorno and national unification, including from an institutional perspective. This research, which dated back to the 1990s, had built momentum as a result of some powerful campaigns in the press, with little or no political pushback. Combining old stereotypes that arose in the anti-unification movement, twentieth-century concepts such as genocide and regional issues, these campaigns were applied instrumentally to the past, producing a new analysis of this period in history with present-day goals in mind. Nor were these stories of ‘lost causes’ limited to the South of Italy; they also (re)awakened claims of subcultural identities in various European and American regions, based on contemporary grievances (González Calleja and Pinto Reference González Calleja, and and Pinto2017; Fruci and Pinto Reference Fruci and Pinto2018; Benigno and Pinto Reference Benigno and Pinto2019).

In this context, studying and then distributing the conclusions of the research provided an essential tool to reinforce the academic work's independence, and so contributed on a different level to the civil discourse. In short, two parallel pathways – the ongoing historical research and a fiery public debate – were able to exist side by side but could not converge. The historians and their results could not be allowed to be dragged into the trivialising yet effective public use of long-nineteenth-century history. Nor could the expert knowledge be prejudicially distorted or reworked to politically influence social and institutional processes, as had happened elsewhere across the continent – most notably in Catalonia, but also in various Balkan states and other parts of Eastern Europe (Canal Reference Canal2014).

To ensure a responsible approach to these topics, the various avenues of research needed to be taken further. A dialogue developed between European and American historians, including some lively discussions on the centuries that laid the foundation for the modern world. Fresh areas of analysis were launched, and further sources, both old and new, were examined in response to new issues and challenges. The research group developed a series of questions. How did national trajectories, political movements and state-building projects form following the revolutionary implosion of the Atlantic empires? How were they connected to the experiences and institutions of southern and central Europe? And – moving beyond an inward-looking or self-contained approach – how did the political context of the Italian peninsula, which stood at the centre both of empires and of ancient regional traditions, fit into the wider picture of the age of revolutions, constitutions and counter-revolutions?

One possible research area stemmed from the crisis of legitimacy suffered by the Bourbon monarchies in the wake of the 13 American colonies’ split from the British Empire, but caused by the French Revolution and the change in dynasty in Naples and Madrid. Both the ‘first total war’ and the revolution that spread across Europe and then led to a global crisis for the Spanish Empire were felt in this space (Bell Reference Bell2008; Thibaud et al. Reference Thibaud, Entin, Gómez and Morelli2013; Pinto Reference Pinto2014). The theme of civil war emerged from the first wave of nation states in the Americas and the renewal, or ‘regeneration’, of those around the Mediterranean (Rújula and Ramón Solans Reference Rújula and Ramón Solans2017; Armitage Reference Armitage2018; Pinto Reference Pinto2019, Reference Pinto, Caron and Dubet2023; Pinto and Rújula Reference Pinto and Rújula2019). This provided a fruitful viewpoint for understanding how states and political systems are assembled, controlled and legitimised, featuring a variety of interwoven questions and issues.

The intersection of research into the global scenario and into the circulation of people, ideas, images and interest with the cultural history of politics and the political history of cultural practices proved highly valuable. The analytical significance of the discussions and of the visual and material culture (and their numerous potential forms) strengthened the prospects for researching the complex ‘grassroots’ mobilisation and politicisation processes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Fiorino, Fruci and Petrizzo Reference Fiorino, Fruci and Petrizzo2013; Riva Reference Riva2013; Fruci and Petrizzo Reference Fruci and Petrizzo2017; Bertolotti, Fruci and Petrizzo Reference Bertolotti, Fruci and Petrizzo2018; Petrizzo Reference Petrizzo2018). In many contexts, including Italy, the study and deconstruction of icons, symbols and ‘profound figures’ did much to revitalise research into the long nineteenth century and to aid understanding of the performative power of Romantic nationalist and patriotic discourse (Banti Reference Banti2000, Reference Banti2005; Sorba Reference Sorba2015).Footnote ²

Cultural history had opened up an entirely new field in studies of Italy in the long nineteenth century, offering original interpretations and opportunities for a comparative approach. The research could now combine politics and culture, social structures and institutions, without any barriers or references to individual specialisms. At the same time, scholars started showing a renewed interest in politics, asking wider questions on the development and profiles of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary political communities, on the transformation of monarchist institutions and republicanism, on the building and circulation of the imagery surrounding the two sides, on the formation of new cultures and communication practices, and on the nature of violence and political mobilisation. For example, the counter-revolution and the monarchy's response to the revolutionary challenge were interpreted as a series of political projects with their own independent participatory and mobilising power at a grassroots level, rather than merely a reaction to events.

This research avenue, part of a rich and innovative debate in Europe and particularly in Ibero-America and other contexts affected by the long-nineteenth-century revolutions, revealed common themes and issues with Italian historiography, which was going through a period of major renewal. The wide-ranging discussion framework that developed during this national and international period of scholarship, with no limits on time periods or specialisms, proved more than able to incorporate stimuli from within Italian nineteenth-century studies. The ‘“Brigantaggio” Revisited’ project – based on dialogue between collaborative, if not always matching, experiences – provided an excellent laboratory for scholarly experimentation.

2.

The PRIN work group defined brigandage as a social figuration, a historical process and a mythographical model – a combination that could take on questions, issues and experiences linked to the civil debate, while remaining entirely grounded in scholarship. A topic had been created with various operational dimensions and myriad narrative and iconographical representations, providing a multifaceted and mouldable social actor, suited to open-ended research on several levels. The topic of brigandage provided the opportunity to work on time periods that shifted between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, avoiding the traditional restrictions of different schools or periods and allowing experimentation with analytical and interpretative approaches dictated by the type of questions and historiographical issues the sources inspired. The project aimed to build a connection with other Euro-Atlantic research, while also protecting scholarly autonomy, an essential premise that can never be taken for granted. Initially, for purely regulatory and practical reasons, the dialogue was between universities in the South of Italy (the PRIN 2017 Sud project directed funding solely towards this area). However, once the project had been accepted, the various research units involved around 200 Italian and international scholars in their events, seminars and publications, proving the project's inclusive underlying approach.Footnote ³

The starting point was a question that summed up the entire premise of the project: could brigandage be defined and reconstructed as a permanent social figuration, but tied to a range of different questions, narratives, contexts and historical periods? Could it incorporate various levels of work and analysis, traditional documents and new sources, and expand the project's general aims along several lines of research? The next step was to create a series of research teams who could conduct cultural analysis of the imagined national communities, define the various social groups politically and symbolically, and carry out structured research into complex and contradictory eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mobilisation and politicisation processes, while also pursuing traditional avenues such as military history, albeit redefined in an original way.

One pool worked diachronically on the spectacularisation in both text and images, and identified the transition between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a pivotal moment. This approach allowed a critical framing of the mythicising or – alternatively – criminalising discourse and languages surrounding brigandage, analysing the substance of the imagery used and its inseparable relationship with practices (Tatasciore Reference Tatasciore2022a; Reverzy and Silvestri Reference Reverzy and Silvestri2023; Fruci Reference Fruci2023). Combining political and cultural analysis, the group investigated the imagery's dissemination in contemporary and mass society, while avoiding turning it into a unique social figuration in terms of either geography or time period. Studying iconography, the media and material culture brought about new challenges: ensuring that the imagery was seen in its full historical context; investigating the importance of mass culture and the worlds of ordinary people; and expanding the areas of analysis and connections between the modern age, the contemporary period and the present day, leading to a focus on outlaws of land and sea in other worlds, alongside the ‘spectacle of brigandage’ – unique to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries – and its narration through material culture (Carrino and Fruci Reference Carrino and Fruci2020; Tatasciore Reference Tatasciore2022b; Carli et al. Reference Carli, D'Autilia, Fruci and Petrizzo2023; Carli Reference Carli2024; Petrizzo Reference Petrizzo2024; Albergoni and Fruci Reference Albergoni and Fruci2025). This helped to explain the mass appeal of the figure of the brigand – or, conversely, its political, folkloric or even consumer use. In particular, it meant that a link could be forged with another underlying question: if war and revolution generate unprecedented politicisation, can brigandage be seen as a phenomenon that cuts across different groups and social classes? And if it is tied inextricably to its practices, how can one connect the cultural sphere with the interests, passions and goals of the action?

Although all bandits and brigands shared outlaw and/or criminal characteristics and origins, they proved capable of embracing different roles and political affiliations. The example of the South of Italy proved ideal for building a model that was open to a range of analyses and interpretations, and particularly for exploring these experiences across a wide historical period spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as these figures gradually adapted to the splits in the feudal world, the revolutionary wars, and finally the long and violent civil war. With the timescales and geography of the research into the various conflicts expanded, some shared phenomena and various areas for comparison emerged. Also important was the Sicilian context, where the relationship between revolution and maintaining public order shone a spotlight on banditry's leading role – including in political circles – alongside the importance given to public participation, leading to questions brimming with potential: how and why was a particular type of banditry chosen? And how was this linked to the various complicated phases of the rural and social history of the South of Italy (Granata Reference Granata2021, Reference Granata2022; Manfredi Reference Manfredi2025)?

3.

The figures of bandits and brigands provided an avenue for tackling various institutional and military history questions, and for delving into the history of counter-revolution and of opposition to absolute or neo-absolutist monarchies, structures that could mobilise popular forces and social and criminal groups, politicising them or even turning them into political actors (Sonetti Reference Sonetti2020; Gin and Sonetti Reference Gin and Sonetti2021; Albergoni and Fruci Reference Albergoni and Fruci2023; Marino Reference Marino2024a; Albergoni Reference Albergoni2024; Di Gregorio and Facineroso Reference Di Gregorio and Facineroso2025). In short, the perspective of war provided a way of engaging with the features of violence against (and by) civilians carried out both by gangs and by the regular or paramilitary security forces involved in irregular operations or in policing, and also with the action of political, military and judicial institutions (Rovinello Reference Rovinello2020; Capone Reference Capone2023; Gallo and Musumeci Reference Gallo and Musumeci2024; Landi Reference Landi2025). Research into the forms of war in and for the Mezzogiorno developed along three lines, providing broader vantage points: the relationship between the monarchy and brigandage; the operations and people involved in the fight against brigandage; and a prosopographic analysis of the main characters involved. A biographical approach was vital, helping to unpick the profiles, interests, practices and memories of irregular warfare at different moments in history. The prism of war was used to frame the strength of Risorgimento nationalism and the unique features of its opponents, bringing to light untold stories of soldiers and bandits who were able to adjust to civil war or membership of grassroots organisations, defending the old order or, conversely, building the nation's institutions (Pinto Reference Pinto2022, Reference Pinto2024). Were these forms of action confined to a national or regional context? Or did they also apply internationally, which would support not only comparative but also interconnected analysis?

The response was to study irregular warfare as a widespread model in both the modern and contemporary age, with blurred and shifting dividing lines between civilians and military personnel, bandits and soldiers. Several repertories of collective action were uncovered, both in the civil wars that followed the implosion of empires in the Americas, the Mediterranean and the Balkans (leaving aside examples in Asia and Africa that could expand the model still further) and in state-building processes or resistance to them (Bonvini Reference Bonvini2022). A direct or inverse relationship also emerged between political experience and forms of criminality, closely connected to ideological and institutional conflicts and to the themes inherent in peasant society and the splits within the rural world (Carrino Reference Carrino2023; Marino Reference Marino2024b). Essentially, the relationship between bandits and irregular warfare could be analysed as a potential response to a broken socio-economic order or to institutional change. The international comparison thus highlighted the impact of irregular warfare: actors emerged who may have been useful for socially mobilising the opposition or, in some cases, for fostering the conditions required for integration within a state. A vast and complex range of experiences showed how irregular fighters contributed to a new view of political legitimacy (or its opposition) as a result of various strengths they possessed that the official forces lacked. These included the power to either build or dismantle public institutions; in some cases, they proved able to demand powers or produce alternative state projects, often unleashing forces and dynamics not seen in regular campaigns or wars.

Did these conflicts produce other social figures? And could they be remodelled into legitimising narratives? When answering these questions, the project highlighted a particularly important aspect: the victims. The figure of the victim took on a powerful, perhaps even dominant, role from the late twentieth century onwards, practically on a global scale, or at least across a large portion of the West and beyond. The campaigns for the victims of ‘brigantaggio’ – i danneggiati, to use the language of the time – and connected experiences provided the basis for an important research experiment, which sought to identify the similarities and differences in the journey from the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century discussion of martyrdom to the victim-centred paradigm of present-day Italy, delving into the campaigns’ political and civilian uses and their material and economic impact on local and national communities (Ravveduto Reference Ravveduto2024).

4.

The PRIN project ‘“Brigantaggio” Revisited’ therefore concluded an experience that involved taking a particular social figure and using it in enlightening ways in empirical research, cultural framing, comparative approaches and experiments with the creative use of varied spaces and chronologies. A detailed catalogue will need to be produced containing the large number of sources explored in the various avenues of research pursued and in the numerous individual and group publications (Gallo Reference Gallo2022). The project provoked new questions on many issues. Themes encountered along the way or in other research experiments entered into dialogue with our PRIN project, indicating new historiographical frontiers and intellectual challenges, including the Risorgimento's global dimension and the Atlantic/Mediterranean area of southern Europe as the original setting for the series of constitutional revolutions in the 1820s (Bonvini Reference Bonvini2021; Isabella Reference Isabella2023). Unsurprisingly, as with any question in contemporary history, many of these topics were already to a greater or lesser extent part of the Italian and global public debate (Petrizzo et al. Reference Petrizzo, Tatasciore, Manfredi, Capone, Bonvini and Ravveduto2023). New investigations and new PRIN projects – now in progress – were developed as a result, raising questions and issues based on the unique moment in time on which the old project was based: in other words, the transition from large imperial systems to the gradual yet definitive success of nation states. In particular, nationalism – in the sense of a force that can produce cultures and communities and politicise wide swathes of society – lends itself to an exploration of its political practices and operational dimensions, including in day-to-day life. Can it be studied in terms of the development of tangible action, as well as in relation to the revolution? And how is it connected to this stage of development in the European and Atlantic world? Can it be related to the large-scale nationalist sentiments outside Europe?

Wartime nationalism has the capacity to integrate or prevent state building or the proliferation of conflict, and to mobilise and define transitory political communities; this can be seen as far back as the Italian experience between 1848 and 1870. It can be aligned with – or, indeed, come into conflict with – types of patriotism that aspire to form communities, or simply want to gain revenge without building state structures. We must therefore study and describe nationalisms in action and community-based patriotisms, and create suitable tools for any debate that may emerge.

Certain moments in history, like the two wars fought in Italy in the mid-nineteenth century, can offer an excellent comparative framework, in spite of all the complexities and overlapping elements. In the 1860s, civil war finalised or renewed nation building and patriotism development processes in places including the USA, Italy, Mexico and Poland, alongside other Ibero-American and European countries. The impact of wartime nationalism is visible here too: the experience led to the formation of a model for the state and political system (the liberal model), potentially comparable to many other examples from the same period. Similarly, one can question how the variable of nationalism is connected to the formulation of scientific knowledge concerning peoples near or far, at a time when national claims and curiosity about ‘other’ societies influenced the new categories into which the planet was divided (Tatasciore Reference Tatasciore2024). Various national or imperial contexts were being reshaped in the background, from India and China to the Sothern Cone. Studying the tangible development of a movement, without detaching it from its ideological context and cultural imagery, but instead connecting it to key moments in its evolution, during particularly intense crises packed with historical meaning, takes us back to the prism of violence.

The topic of war also uncovered various potential options for future research. These included rituals of individual or group violence; politicisation processes, to be researched diachronically using a comparative approach with respect to the twentieth century or the modern age; and, more specifically, criminal dynamics. Southern Italy remains the dominant and underlying location both for the specialist research and comparative analysis, and to respond to original problems, such as the present-day concept of the ‘end of violence’.Footnote ⁴ War is a problematic area, but it helps us to understand this phenomenon on a wider level. How much do its forms and practices affect state-building processes? A new area of research derived from these issues regards the formation of military elites, analysing both in Italian and comparative terms the institutions created to instil discipline in and ‘civilise’ the upper echelons of the military class, thereby separating them from political power and, to a certain extent, from civilian life.Footnote ⁵ This analytical platform will establish whether – and, if so, to what extent – the professionalisation of the armies was a founding pillar of armed nationalism. Other questions of great interest can be evoked to complete this picture: for example, studying individual biographies, the military profession and weapons training as the founding elements of national projects, practices and imagery. Or examining military occupations or external interventions – not necessarily as part of regular warfare – through the lens of political and economic relationships and interests (Capone Reference Capone2025).

As we saw with the martyrs and victims, these issues are leading us to investigate civilian populations and social actors at key moments in the relationship between wars and nations, exploring the cultural history of politics and the political history of cultural practices on different levels. Can we extend this to wider contexts too? It is possible to explore new themes – like the forms and languages of suffragist campaigning, the channels and methods used to build consensus (and dissent), or the physical definition and reception or consumption of imagery – without straying from the relationship between the nationalisation of society and the politicisation of nations, between the production, circulation and reception of narratives and images, and between the emotional construction of the public sphere and its spectacularisation? The wide topic of the right or aspiration to political citizenship determined the nature of contemporary democracies, and it can be explored both in the languages and creative forms of male and female suffragism and in the connected development of voting cultures and concepts of electoral participation.Footnote ⁶

Similarly, the governing of consensus and dissent, the communication and relational processes that define celebrity and political charisma, and the channels and agents used to promote, organise and control opinions and political engagement and measure its performance all allow us to contemplate the contradictory, complex and creative building of the contemporary public sphere. The same can arise from studying the places, actors and forms involved in the development and production of materials that define and shape imagery during times of intense transformation and splintering, involving myriad visual craftspeople and a vast range of media outlets and objects, with enormous communicative power and a strong emotional impact. All these new questions and ongoing pieces of research offer a complex view that underlines the challenges of historical scholarship and the intense public debate currently raging in our society.