The introduction of high schools in the Italian Republic (1802) was almost coeval with its creation in France. Established in the department’s capital city, the modern high school system represented a a new beginning, not only educational but cultural as well. Even in Italy, the intentions of the Napoleonic regime was to use high schools to educate future elite generations both civil or military and new professions also in the sciences and literature, or even in that working class property owners who were intended to be one of the main pillars of a civil society and new citizenship, legally defined in the famous Napoléon Code. In addition to traditional rhetorical-humanistic or philosophical-mathematical courses - which complemented the teaching activities in public high schools - high school boys studied the fundamentals of the various sciences (physics, chemistry, botany and agronomy, law) gaining significant hands on experience in laboratories, in the lavatories of the natural sciences, and in botanical gardens. Military exercises (subject to strong aversion but also youthful enthusiasm), under the guidance of veterans of the Italian army, clearly showed a sign of times changing. This essay provides an overview of what had been achieved in this field by a government that, for the first time, was called Italian and had its capital in Milan. In 1813, out of a population of 7.6 million inhabitants, the Kingdom of Italy had twenty-six functioning high schools, nine of which with boarding. So, in proportion to the population, it had a higher average than that of France. Boarding schools therefore aspired to be an alternative to both state religious and private colleges, which despite the hostility from the government, continued to be feared as threatening competition. In order to defeat this situation, Napoleon ordered the distribution of scholarships and semi-free scholarships to all children of bureaucratic or military staff. Although not all new schools with or without boarding were receiving the support of several established local companies - and indeed some were a failure even during Napoleon’s short administration - the introduction of high schools undoubtedly marked a turning point in the history of the school system and the education of young Italians, becoming more modern state oriented therefore similar to the French system.
L’introduzione del liceo nell’ordinamento scolastico della Repubblica italiana (1802) fu quasi coevo alla sua creazione nella Francia consolare. Istituito nelle città capoluogo di dipartimento, il moderno liceo rappresentò un’autentica novità non soltanto scolastica, bensì culturale. Anche in Italia, attraverso i licei il regime napoleonico intese forgiare i futuri gruppi dirigenti, nell’amministrazione civile o nell’esercito, nelle libere professioni, nelle scienze e nelle lettere, o anche solo in quel ceto possidente che era chiamato a essere uno dei principali pilastri di una società civile e di una cittadinanza nuove, giuridicamente definite nel celebre Code Napoléon. Oltre a tradizionali corsi retorico-umanistici o filosofico-matematici – che completavano gli insegnamenti attivati nei ginnasi cittadini – nei licei i giovani studiavano i fondamenti di diverse scienze (fisica, chimica, agronomia e botanica, diritto) compiendo significative esperienze pratiche, nei laboratori, nei gabinetti di scienze naturali, negli orti botanici. Originale segno dei tempi furono le esercitazioni militari (oggetto di forti avversione ma anche di entusiasmi giovanili), sotto la guida di veterani dell’esercito italiano.Il contributo offre una panoramica di quanto realizzato in questo campo da un governo che, per la prima volta, si chiamò italiano ed ebbe in Milano la sua capitale. Al 1813, su una popolazione di 7.600 mila abitanti, nel Regno d’Italia erano in attività ventisei licei, nove dei quali con convitto. Dunque, in proporzione alla popolazione, una media superiore a quella stessa della Francia. I convitti ambivano a essere un’alternativa laica e statale ai collegi religiosi (o privati) i quali, nonostante l’ostilità del governo, continuarono a rappresentare una temibile concorrenza. Per batterla, Napoleone dispose anche la distribuzione di borse di studio gratuite e semigratuite a beneficio dei figli del personale burocratico o militare. Sebbene non tutti i nuovi licei, con o senza convitto, riscuotessero il favore delle diverse società locali dove furono istituiti - e anzi taluni furono un’esperienza fallimentare, anche per la brevità del dominio napoleonico – l’istituzione liceale segnò senza dubbio un punto di svolta nella storia della scuola e dell’educazione dei giovani italiani, in una direzione statalista e modernizzante, sul modello francese.
Pagano, E., I licei di Napoleone presidente e re, in Bianchi, A. (ed.), L'istruzione in Italia tra Sette e Ottocento. Da Milano a Napoli: casi regionali e tendenze nazionali, La Scuola, Brescia 2012: 35- 88 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/41794]
I licei di Napoleone presidente e re
Pagano, Emanuele
2012
Abstract
The introduction of high schools in the Italian Republic (1802) was almost coeval with its creation in France. Established in the department’s capital city, the modern high school system represented a a new beginning, not only educational but cultural as well. Even in Italy, the intentions of the Napoleonic regime was to use high schools to educate future elite generations both civil or military and new professions also in the sciences and literature, or even in that working class property owners who were intended to be one of the main pillars of a civil society and new citizenship, legally defined in the famous Napoléon Code. In addition to traditional rhetorical-humanistic or philosophical-mathematical courses - which complemented the teaching activities in public high schools - high school boys studied the fundamentals of the various sciences (physics, chemistry, botany and agronomy, law) gaining significant hands on experience in laboratories, in the lavatories of the natural sciences, and in botanical gardens. Military exercises (subject to strong aversion but also youthful enthusiasm), under the guidance of veterans of the Italian army, clearly showed a sign of times changing. This essay provides an overview of what had been achieved in this field by a government that, for the first time, was called Italian and had its capital in Milan. In 1813, out of a population of 7.6 million inhabitants, the Kingdom of Italy had twenty-six functioning high schools, nine of which with boarding. So, in proportion to the population, it had a higher average than that of France. Boarding schools therefore aspired to be an alternative to both state religious and private colleges, which despite the hostility from the government, continued to be feared as threatening competition. In order to defeat this situation, Napoleon ordered the distribution of scholarships and semi-free scholarships to all children of bureaucratic or military staff. Although not all new schools with or without boarding were receiving the support of several established local companies - and indeed some were a failure even during Napoleon’s short administration - the introduction of high schools undoubtedly marked a turning point in the history of the school system and the education of young Italians, becoming more modern state oriented therefore similar to the French system.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.