The essay retraces the characteristics of the secular virtuosism which inspired the cultural, social and political commitment of much of the progressive bourgeoisie, between the nineteenth and twentieth century. Keen to contribute to the Nation’s economic and civil progress by way of initiatives originating from the purview of "loisir", but which were far from being disengaged, inspired instead by the firm belief of being useful in a concrete way to the community and to the native land. The essay traces back to some characters and to significant volumes of the scientific-popularizing literature, manuals and anecdotes, flourishing also in Italy in those years, theoretical and practical models of a new form of secular holiness in which the virtues of the Risorgimento went with the values of efficiency, modernity, determination and the wish for entrepreneurship typical of the European progressive and positivist bourgeoisie. It resulted in a pedagogy that was at the origin and promoted the development of important experiences of membership, philanthropy and training that contributed to shaping society in particular in the large urban realities of the ninth-twentieth-century.
Il saggio rintraccia le caratteristiche del virtuismo laico che ispirò l'impegno culturale, sociale e politico di molta borghesia progressista tra Otto e Novecento, desiderosa di contribuire all'avanzamento economico e civile della nazione attraverso iniziative che nascevano dall'ambito del "loisir", ma che erano tutt’altro che disimpegnate, ispirate invece dalla ferma volontà di risultare concretamente utili alla collettività e alla patria. Il saggio rintraccia in alcune figure, e soprattutto in significativi volumi della letteratura scientifico-divulgativa, manualistica e aneddotica fiorita in quegli anni anche in Italia, i modelli teorici e pratici di una nuova forma di "santità" tutta laica in cui le virtù del Risorgimento si accompagnavano ai valori di efficienza, modernità, determinazione e desiderio d’intrapresa tipici della borghesia progressista e positivista europea. Ne derivò una pedagogia che fu all’origine e promosse lo sviluppo di importanti esperienze associative, filantropiche, formative che contribuirono a modellare la società soprattutto nelle grandi realtà urbane otto-novecentesche.
Bardelli, D., Il mondo nuovo e la nuova virtù: il 'santo' della modernità, Studi in memoria di Cesare Mozzarelli, Vita e Pensiero, Milano 2008 <<Storia / Ricerche>>,: 1379-1407 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/85213]
Il mondo nuovo e la nuova virtù: il 'santo' della modernità
Bardelli, Daniele
2008
Abstract
The essay retraces the characteristics of the secular virtuosism which inspired the cultural, social and political commitment of much of the progressive bourgeoisie, between the nineteenth and twentieth century. Keen to contribute to the Nation’s economic and civil progress by way of initiatives originating from the purview of "loisir", but which were far from being disengaged, inspired instead by the firm belief of being useful in a concrete way to the community and to the native land. The essay traces back to some characters and to significant volumes of the scientific-popularizing literature, manuals and anecdotes, flourishing also in Italy in those years, theoretical and practical models of a new form of secular holiness in which the virtues of the Risorgimento went with the values of efficiency, modernity, determination and the wish for entrepreneurship typical of the European progressive and positivist bourgeoisie. It resulted in a pedagogy that was at the origin and promoted the development of important experiences of membership, philanthropy and training that contributed to shaping society in particular in the large urban realities of the ninth-twentieth-century.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.