Moderate Party (Italy)

Since the Congress of Vienna, inside the Italian peninsula was diffused a reformist and Romantic moment, inspired from Jacobinism and Bonapartism, and exposed in the Revolutions of 1820 against the reactionary Congress System.{{cite book|last=Leoni|first=Francesco|title=Storia dei partiti politici italiani|year=2001|language=it|publisher=Alfredo Guida Editore|location=Napoli|page=38|isbn=88-7188-495-7}} Many patriots, soldiers, and intellectuals took part in the revolutions. Within this liberal movement, the idea of unifying the Italian states and making the peninsula independent from foreign domination developed strongly. With time, Moderates demarcated themselves from radical and republican organizations like Young Italy of Giuseppe Mazzini and Carboneria, among others. Moderates and radicals mainly disagreed on the methods to unite Italy: the former supported secret pacts and strategic alliances between the patriotic movement and the other European powers, whereas Mazzini's supporters called a popular revolution to establish a democratic republic. In contrast to the democrats and radicals, their reformist programme was based on legality.{{cite book|last=Leoni|first=Francesco|title=Storia dei partiti politici italiani|year=2001|language=it|publisher=Alfredo Guida Editore|location=Napoli|page=62|isbn=88-7188-495-7}}{{cite web |date=25 November 2024 |title=Partito Moderato |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/partito-moderato/ |access-date=23 December 2024 |website=Treccani |language=it}} The Moderate Party was thus formed in Italy, representing all those personalities in favour of national unification but against revolutionary methods, especially after the failure of the uprisings of 1820–1821 and 1830–1831 organized by the Carboneria.{{cite book|last=Leoni|first=Francesco|title=Storia dei partiti politici italiani|year=2001|language=it|publisher=Alfredo Guida Editore|location=Napoli|page=63|isbn=88-7188-495-7}}

Preceded by neo-Guelphism, of which it was the practical development, among its main protagonists and propagandists were Cesare Balbo with Le spera d'Italia (1844) and Massimo d'Azeglio; Moderates aimed at the birth of a confederation between the states of the peninsula, a series of reforms, and then of liberal constitutions. The movement inspired the reformist movement of 1846–1847 but after the disappointments of 1848 suffered an eclipse; it recovered thanks to Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, abandoned federalism, and completed national unification under the House of Savoy in 1859–1861. After the failure of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states that had been attempted by Mazzinians and republicans, the republican ideas declined among Moderates. During this time, several politicians of other Italian states were members of the group. In the Kingdom of Sardinia, the leaders were d'Azeglio and Cavour, representing the parliamentary Right, and Urbano Rattazzi, representing the Left; in the Papal States, the movement was headed by Terenzio, Count Mamiani della Rovere, and Pellegrino Rossi, the last murdered by a republican plot in 1848; and in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, prominent Moderates were brothers Bertrando and Silvio Spaventa. When the Kingdom of Italy was founded in 1861, Moderates merged in the parliamentary Right and Left, the two Piedmontese parliamentary group that would monopolize the politics of the new Italian state for almost half-century. After the death of Cavour, they represented the Right, which governed the country until 1876.

Differently by democrats and radical republicans, Moderates were only circles of intellectuals, aristocrats, soldiers, and businessmen with patriotic tendencies, being placed in among Romantic nationalists.{{cite book |last=Nascimbene Pasio |first=Clelia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUk-AAAAIAAJ |title=Patriottismo romantico e patriottismo classico nei prodromi del risorgimento italiano |year=1931 |publisher=Zanichelli |location=Bologna |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zUk-AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA104 104] |language=it}}{{cite book |last=Formichi |first=Gianluca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrkM6vPOBDAC |title=Il Risorgimento: 1799-1861 |publisher=Giunti Editore |year=2003 |isbn=978-88-09-02861-6 |location=Milan |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rrkM6vPOBDAC&pg=PA49 49]}} The Moderate Party was not cohesive because its members were of different political ideologies, ranging from continental liberalism to soft conservatism. Initially, the movement was not too nationalist, preferring a federation or coalition between the several Italian states,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6bNxs_7miwC |title=Tutta storia |publisher=De Agostini |year=2011 |isbn=978-88-418-6491-3 |location=Milan |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=c6bNxs_7miwC&pg=PA311 311] |language=it |chapter=I moderati: neoguelfi e liberal-radicali}} and later supported its reformist policies within legalist means. When the possibility of an unified Italian state became real, a new question of division was the form that the new Italian state would have. The likes of Vincenzo Gioberti, Alessandro Manzoni,{{cite magazine |last=Cro |first=Stelio |year=1988 |title=L'idealismo neo-guelfo e il teatro nazionale in Alessandro Manzoni |magazine=Tetaro Contemporaneo |pages=215-237 |language=it |volume=VIII |issue=18}} See also {{cite book |author=Manzoni |first=Alessandro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KAvK8z-hf7gC&pg=PA93 |title=The Count of Carmagnola & Adelchis |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-80187-881-7 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KAvK8z-hf7gC&q=manzoni+neo+guelfo&pg=PA93 93]}} and Antonio Rosmini-Serbati supported a confederation of states led by the pope,{{cite book |last=Fusilli |first=Raffaele |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_0NAQAAIAAJ |title=Liberali, socialcomunisti e cattolici in lotta guelfa e ghibellina durante il fascismo, la monarchia e la repubblica: Saggio storico politico |date=1969 |publisher=Attraverso l'Abruzzo |location=Pescara |language=it}}{{cite book |last=Schiattone |first=Mario |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9TykdLn5ozEC |title=Alle origini del federalismo italiano |date=1996 |publisher=Edizioni Dedalo |isbn=978-88-220-6180-5 |location=Bari |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9TykdLn5ozEC&pg=PA76 76]}} while others, such as Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi and Giovanni Battista Niccolini,{{cite book |last=Firpo |first=Luigi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtM6AAAAIAAJ |title=Storia delle idee politiche economiche e sociali |year=1972 |publisher=Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese |isbn=978-88-02-04081-3 |volume=3 |location=Turin |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FtM6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA291 291]}}{{cite book |last1=Gnoli |first1=Antonio |last2=Sasso |first2=Gennaro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UmqgDQAAQBAJ |title=I corrotti e gli inetti. Conversazioni su Machiavelli |publisher=Bompiani |year=2013 |isbn=978-88-587-6414-5 |location=Milan |language=it}} supported the Savoys,{{cite book |last=Badaloni |first=Nicola |title=Il pensiero politico di Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi |publisher=Quaderni della Labronica |year=1974 |location=Livorno |page=67 |language=it}} or simply claimed for a centralized state headed by a monarch, without differences if a Savoy or other. There were also those who switched sides, such as Balbo,{{cite book |last=Viglione |first=Massimo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ0rCZzvOB4C |title=Libera chiesa in libero stato?: il Risorgimento e i cattolici: uno scontro epocale |publisher=Città Nuova |year=2005 |isbn=978-88-311-0339-8 |location=Rome |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ0rCZzvOB4C&pg=PA44 44]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ0rCZzvOB4C&pg=PA45 45]}} and even a minority of republicans.

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{{reflist}}

• Italian nationalism
• Liberalism and radicalism in Italy

{{historical Italian political parties}}

{{19th century Italian political groups}}

Category:1848 establishments in Italy

Category:1861 disestablishments in Italy

Category:Defunct liberal political parties

Category:Defunct political parties in Italy

Category:Italian unification

Category:Kingdom of Sardinia

Category:Liberal parties in Italy

Category:Political parties established in 1848

Category:Political parties disestablished in the 1860s