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Introduction to the English translation -- Introduction to the Italian edition of 1999 -- Revisionism compared -- Rethinking the crisis of the seventeenth century -- "Winds of the Fronde" : the revolution before the revolution -- The mystery of Masaniello

The publication, in 1635, of Il ritratto del privato politico cristiano by Virgilio Malvezzi, soon translated throughout Europe, constitutes an important reflection on the change that took place in the structure of politics with the affirmation of the valimiento system. The essay reconstructs the intellectual parable that will lead the Bolognese marquis to elaborate the essay, trying to highlight the specific contribution of Malvezzi to the understanding of the figure of the minister-favorite. The previous works are examined (Discorsi sopra Cornelio Tacito, 1622; Romulo, 1629; Tarquinio il Superbo, 1632; Davide perseguitato, 1634) and their strong realistic charge that tries to overcome the abstract precepts of the specula principis to probe –through the story of the lives of rulers– the limits of their action. It is this path, marked by the dialectic with the tacitism and the neo-stoic perspective, that allows Malvezzi to reason very perceptively on the figure of the Count-Duke. The text is not an abstract delineation of Olivares' virtues but an unscrupulous reflection on the meaning of prudence and the domination of passions in a context dominated by the struggle for power. ; La publicación, en 1635, de Il ritratto del privato politico cristiano de Virgilio Malvezzi, traducido enseguida en toda Europa, ofrece una reflexión importante sobre el cambio que se produjo en la estructura de la política con el afianzamiento del sistema del valimiento. Este artículo reconstruye la parábola intelectual que llevará al marqués boloñés a elaborar dicho ensayo, procurando dar nueva luz a la contribución específica que hizo Malvezzi a la comprensión de la figura del ministro-favorito. Se examinan las obras precedentes (Discorsi sopra Cornelio Tacito, 1622; Romulo, 1629; Tarquinio il Superbo, 1632; Davide perseguitato, 1634) y su fuerte carga realista que trata de superar la preceptiva abstracta de los specula principis para sondear –a través del relato de la vida de los gobernantes– los límites de sus acciones. Es este recorrido, marcado por la dialéctica con el tacitismo y la perspectiva neoestoica, el que permite a Malvezzi razonar con agudeza sobre la figura del conde duque. Se trata de un texto que no es mero elogio abstracto de las virtudes de Olivares, sino una reflexión libre de prejuicios sobre el significado de la prudencia y del dominio de las pasiones en un contexto dominado por la lucha por el poder.

Una lunga tradizione intellettuale occidentale ha creato e diffuso per il mondo l'idea di un uso rigeneratore della violenza politica utilizzata al fine del mutamento sociale e della liberazione dall'oppressione. In questo quadro essa ha difeso e teorizzato l'azione "terroristica" come uno strumento violento di liberazione sociale, l'unico spesso nelle mani dei poveri, delle minoranze oppresse e dei senza mezzi contro lo strapotere delle potenze, dei dittatori, delle maggioranze. Per far conoscere le ragioni di una lotta, per esistere politicamente, per propagandare le proprie idee e, in ultimo, per colpire un avversario incomparabilmente più forte, occorre compiere un gesto violento, inatteso, improvviso. Ciò che potremmo chiamare il terrorismo rivoluzionario, insomma è diretto prioritariamente, più che a terrorizzare il nemico, a "risvegliare" le masse dormienti, a spingere alla lotta il proprio popolo mediante un atto esemplare capace di rappresentare sul piano simbolico la vittoria possibile.

RésuméCet article propose une discussion sur trois publications récentes et importantes consacrées à la Révolution française: le livre de Timothy Tackett,The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution, celui de Jonathan Israel,Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from the Rights of Man to Robespierreet, enfin, celui de Haim Burstin,Révolutionnaires. Pour une anthropologie politique de la Révolution française. Ces ouvrages se caractérisent notamment par un retour bienvenu à des interprétations générales renouvelées par de nouvelles approches théoriques. Le processus révolutionnaire est donc envisagé sous de multiples points de vue: le premier se fonde sur le courant historiographique connu sous le nom de « nouvelle histoire des émotions » pour expliquer l'obsession de la conspiration et, donc, la Terreur; le deuxième propose une utilisation nouvelle de l'histoire traditionnelle des idées, considérée comme capable d'expliquer les prétendus « faits concrets »; le troisième envisage l'expérience révolutionnaire selon une perspective inspirée par l'anthropologie en établissant une typologie afin de la caractériser. Cependant, tous sont unis par leur résistance à analyser la structure politique en tant que telle, c'est-à-dire à étudier comment fonctionnaient concrètement les institutions politiques pendant la Révolution.

This essay is a discussion of three recent and important books on the French Revolution: Timothy Tackett's The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution, Jonathan Israel's Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from the Rights of Man to Robespierre, and Haim Burstin's Révolutionnaires. Pour une anthropologie politique de la Révolution française. All three volumes are characterized by a welcome return to general interpretations based on new theoretical approaches and consider the revolutionary process from multiple points of view: the first uses the historiographical current known as the "new history of emotions" to explain the contemporary obsession with conspiracies and thence the Terror; the second proposes a new approach based on the traditional history of ideas, considered capable of explaining the so-called "hard facts"; the third envisages the revolutionary experience from an anthropological perspective, constructing a typology in order to characterize it. Nevertheless, all three are united by a reluctance to analyze the political structure itself; in other words, to investigate the concrete workings of political institutions during the Revolution.

This article reconsiders the so-called "dangerous classes" by focusing on the historical origins of the Neapolitan camorra, one of the world's major criminal organizations. In the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples, the term camorristi referred to marginalized individuals and extortionists who operated in prisons, gambling halls, and brothels. During the turbulent period of Italian unification, such figures were increasingly seen as belonging to a legendary, omnipotent, and influential sect: the camorra, an organized secret society with its own hierarchy, customs, and jargon. This image eventually permeated Italian society. This article examines the reasons behind this evolution by focusing on the (mainly literary) texts and (essentially political) dynamics behind it, which reveal a process of criminalization and folklorization. Such a discursive transformation had a major impact on the Italian collective imagination, one that persists today.