Garibaldi popolare. Politiche novecentesche dell’icona risorgimentale

Abstract

«Hero of the People». Political uses of Garibaldi’s image in the XXth century · Garibaldi epitomizes Italian Risorgimento also on an iconographical level. With particular reference to Sicily in the XXth century, the article aims at analyzing first some aspects of an often thaumaturgic Garibaldi’s figure within subaltern culture, chiefly through handcratfs, political tattoos, painted scenes pertaining to traditional puppet theatre as well as to ornate carts. All these contexts show a dense circulation between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture. The elections for the regional parliament in 1947 are characterized by the massive use of Garibaldi in the frame of Communist propaganda; we try to shed light on this strategy and the related iconographical choices. In the celebrations for the victory of the left the sacred dimension of Garibaldi’s myth is evident; his image is carried around fol- lowing the very rituals of saint Joseph’s festivities.