- A “New mania”. The Carboneria: conflicts and ambivalences (Sicily, 1820-1830)

The Carboneria’s riots of 1820-21 in Southern Italy are an interesting key to understand how clear and unclear conflicts made for socio-political mutation in those tumultuous and important years. The experience of these riots in Sicily, in particular, while driven by sometimes strange and twisted forces, will go towards the same common goal that would found marked characterizations in other forms of riots soon. First-hand sources – extrapolated from the documents of the Intendenza of the Valley of Catania, by the acts of the Public Security and of the Police – provide interesting news about secret societies, persons suspected to be Carbonari, arrests issued in the territory, conspiracies against the Bourbon government. And on convicts, on detentions, on the “public spirit” of the Valley too, giving new historiographical perspectives.