Naples in the Eighteenth Century
The Birth and Death of a Nation State

This volume contains essays on the political and cultural importance of Naples in the eighteenth century.

Girolamo Imbruglia (Edited by)

9780521038157, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 July 2007

220 pages
22.7 x 15.1 x 1.3 cm, 0.335 kg

'Girolamo Imbruglia's edited collection of essays is the most comprehensive synthesis of current research on eighteenth-century Naples available in English.' Modern Italy

In 1734 the kingdom of Naples became an independent monarchy, but in 1799 a Jacobin revolution transformed it briefly into a republic. In these few but intense decades of independence all the great problems of the age of the Enlightenment became apparent: attacks on feudalism and on the power of the Catholic Church, the struggle for a modern economy, and aspirations to change the administrative machinery and the judicial system. Yet Naples was also the city visited by Winckelmann and Goethe, the city of Sir William Hamilton, of the study of Pompeii and Herculanum, and of the greatest musicians of the age. This collection of essays addresses a range of issues in the city's political and cultural history, and demonstrates the city's importance in shaping the modern, enlightened culture of Europe.

List of abbreviations
Introduction Girolamo Imbruglia
1. The capital and the provinces Maria Grazia Maiorini
2. The court: power relations and forms of social life Giovanni Montroni
3. The arrogance of the market: the economy of the kingdom between the Mediterranean and Europe Biagio Salvemini
4. Enlightenment in eighteenth-century Naples Girolamo Imbruglia
5. The feudal question, judicial systems and the Enlightenment Anna Maria Rao
6. Intellectuals and academies Elvira Chiosi
7. Music and Enlightenment Renato Di Benedetto
8. Antiquarian studies in Naples at the end of the eighteenth century. From comparative archaeology to comparative religion Alain Schnapp
9. How not to finish a revolution Antonino De Francesco
Bibliography
Index of names.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]