by Eugenio Fusignani — Deputy Mayor of Ravenna

Alessandro Manzoni's paper, "On the Unity of Language and the Means of Spreading It," presented to the Accademia della Crusca in 1868, represents one of the key moments in post-Risorgimento cultural reflection.

But before attempting any reflections on the merits, I feel obliged to thank Andrea Giovanetti for his work at Antiquus, which, through his efforts, has brought important documents from the past to life, helping us better understand Italy's path of civil, moral, and political progress.

The construction of a united Italy, in fact, is almost always described as a political and military process of the Risorgimento, ignoring that it also possessed a fundamental cultural dimension.

It is no coincidence that the most famous political thinker and most active patriot of the 19th century, Giuseppe Mazzini, found inspiration for his ideal construction precisely from Dante Alighieri.

His reflections on the role of Dante, expressed in 1826 in the essay “On Dante’s Patriotic Love", had already underlined the importance of language as an element of identity: a people without a common language is not sovereign.

Alessandro Manzoni's report, "On the Unity of Language and the Means of Spreading It," written forty-two years later, takes up and develops this principle, translating it into a concrete project.

Manzoni approached the problem of linguistic unity with a pragmatic and concrete perspective, focusing his attention above all on identifying effective tools (schools, the press, literature) for spreading a common language.

His choice fell on the Florentine language, but unlike Mazzini, who looked to the fourteenth-century vernacular of Dante, Manzoni opted for the seventeenth-century vernacular. He chose the clear and harmonious language of the great authors because it was considered a stable and comprehensible model, capable of overcoming dialectal fragmentation and promoting uniform communication between citizens of different regions.

In other words, Manzoni conceives language as a practical instrument of civil and cultural cohesion, unlike Mazzini who, instead, adopts a more idealistic and moral approach.

In his eulogy of Dante, for Mazzini, language is not merely a means of communication, but a symbol of national identity and civic responsibility. Dante represents Italy's historical and moral conscience, and in this sense, his work serves not only to culturally unify Italians, but also to educate them in the values ​​of patriotism and civic engagement. For Mazzini, therefore, language has an ethical and political value, capable of forming citizens aware of their historical mission.

Despite their differences in approach, Manzoni and Mazzini shared the fundamental belief that Italy cannot be considered united without cultural and linguistic ties.

And for both, that bond is language, the true glue of the nation, capable of transforming a political community into a cultural and moral community. If for Mazzini, Dante's example teaches identity and civic awareness, for Manzoni, the dissemination of the Florentine language through concrete means achieves this goal.

Dante thus becomes the symbol uniting the two visions: the poet is both a linguistic model and a moral guide. His language embodies the shared cultural past and offers Italians a point of reference for the present and the future.

Linguistic unification is closely linked to the moral and civil unity of the nation.

Speaking, reading, and writing a common language means sharing values, historical memory, and traditions. The Italian language becomes a tool of identity, cohesion, and citizenship, capable of completing the work of the Risorgimento, transforming the peninsula into a united nation not only politically, but also culturally and morally.

Manzoni and Mazzini thus offer two complementary perspectives on the same challenge: Italy needs a common language to consolidate its unity, but this language must embody both concrete tools of communication and shared ethical and civic values.

The convergence between Manzoni's pragmatism and Mazzini's idealism makes it clear that language is not just a tool of communication, but the true glue of a nation.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Antiquus once again for their invaluable work in recovering and disseminating texts like this Manzoni report, which allows us to understand and explore the cultural roots of our national identity.

Eugenio Fusignani

Eugenio Fusignani served as Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Ravenna, President of the Province of Ravenna, and Senator of the Italian Republic. A scholar and enthusiast of Italian history and culture, he collaborates with Antiquus in promoting our country's cultural and linguistic heritage.