Spiriti libertari e cultura teatrale a Milano a metà Ottocento

It is not surprising that theatre, a form of art by its nature ‘political’, has been a place and an opportunity of mobilization in the occasion of important events in the history of Italian independence and liberation. Theatre promotes ideas of liberation and independence through the contents of the plays staged. Tragedy, in particular, represents the values of the Risorgimento with the commitment of great actors; it conveys them to the audience using the favoured genre of melodrama and makes them actual in the city’s religious and civil rites. With reference to this aspect, the essay analyses some examples of performance in Milan during the 1840s, especially related to tragedy and to the presence there of Gustavo Modena.