Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Emotional arenas: from provincial circus to national courtroom in late nineteenth-century Italy

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 16; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13642529.2012.681190

1470-1154

Mark Seymour,

Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

Abstract This article investigates a revealing moment in Italian history, during which a court of law in Rome became a complex arena of emotions. Building on Barbara Rosenwein's concept of 'emotional communities', the analysis presents the trial as an episode in which divergent communities' styles were adjudicated as part of an attempt to establish more uniform emotional standards for a relatively new polity. The murder victim, a circumspect official based in the capital, and his assassin, an exuberant circus acrobat from the distant provinces, represented different communities within the national fabric, and embodied opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. The court exalted the victim's self-control and condemned the murderer's unmediated emotional exploits. Yet, the trial was not a simple object lesson in restraint vanquishing emotion. Instead, the analysis focuses on the way the state, eager to garner the legitimacy deriving from keen public participation in its processes, trod a fine line between the sober decorum of a court of law and the emotional colour of an ancient Roman circus. Ultimately, this case study suggests that for historians the task of discerning 'emotional communities' is complicated by the fact that any such community is likely to be fraught with fault lines, among which variables such as gender, class, and geographical region are intersected by more volatile factors such as personal opportunity, social context, and historical moment. Keywords: ItalyemotionsCalabriacircustrialmurder Acknowledgements The genesis of this article lies in Benno Gammerl's enticing CFP for the workshop 'Emotional Styles – Communities and Spaces', held in July 2010 by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development's Center for the History of Emotions, Berlin. I am indebted not only for the initial inspiration, but for the Institute's financial support of my participation, for the ideas generated by the scholars at that vibrant meeting, and above all for Benno's invaluable guidance during the revision of my contribution. I am grateful to Professor Ute Frevert for extending her Center's hospitality again during my visiting fellowship to the Institute in 2011, and to the Center's scholars and staff for ensuring that my sojourn was both intellectually stimulating and emotionally warm. I offer particular thanks to Thomas Dixon, Sue Burton, Robert Aldrich, Marjan Schwegman, and my colleagues in Otago's Department of History (particularly Barbara Brookes and Tony Ballantyne) for their close readings of the article, which has benefitted greatly from their suggestions. Notes 1. The intensely emotional atmosphere is well documented in contemporary newspapers. My account draws from Processo Cardinali (1879, 6). This is a compilation of daily reports on the trial that appeared in one of Rome's leading newspapers, Il Messaggero. See also Angela Groppi (2002, 649–79). More generally on the trial as a media phenomenon, see Thomas Simpson (2010). 2. L'assassinio del capitano Fadda. Il Bersagliere, October 8, 1878, 3. The article also provided details of the long route planned for Fadda's funeral procession. 3. As early as 1941, Lucien Febvre recognised the motivating force of emotions and urged historians to view them as valid subjects of historical inquiry (see his essay, 1973). 4. An effective overview of the field's development is provided by Matt (2011). 5. Testimony to Banti's influence is Körner et al. (2009). 6. Processo Cardinali 1879, 6. 7. Processo Cardinali 1879, 6. 8. In addition to Groppi, see also Katherine Fischer Taylor (1993). 9. Processo Cardinali 1879, 70. 10. The correspondent for Milan's Corriere della Sera (October 1–2, 1879, 2) referred to a pen-and-ink sketch of Fadda published in Rome's Il Messaggero. This closely resembles the photograph of Fadda that was retrieved from his desk by the police. 11. On both separation and spouse murder in Italy as alternatives to divorce, see Mark Seymour (2006, 62–75 and 76–83). 12. Archivio di Stato di Roma, Tribunale Civile e Penale di Roma, 1879, Corte di Assise, Busta 3659 (henceforth ASR, TCP, b. 3659), vol. IV, ff. 166–167, letter from Giovanni Fadda to Raffaella Saraceni, dated Parma, 15 June 1873. 13. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. IV, ff. 188–189, undated letter from Giovanni to Raffaella (almost certainly 1878). 14. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. 1, f. 8, undated draft of letter from Giovanni to Raffaella. The final version is referred to in the previous note. 15. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. 1, f. 116, undated letter (but August 1878) from Giovanni to Raffaella. The draft version is f. 44. 16. There is a large body of work on the cultural rules of personal correspondence, usefully warning that personal letters can never provide a clear window onto the heart or soul of the writer. Nevertheless, the severest proscriptions of cultural history seem to have had their high moment, and historians are beginning to be more willing to use letters as a way of providing insight into personal emotions. For a summary of some of these debates see Mark Seymour (2010, esp. 149–50). 17. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. 1, f. 9, hand-written poem entitled 'Disprezzo' recovered from Fadda's desk. 18. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. 1, f. 7, draft of letter from Fadda to Saraceni, undated but probably April 1878. 19. All historians of emotion are aware that the word itself has a history, in fact different histories in different languages, and that its current use is relatively modern. Particularly useful on the way the English vocabulary of human sentiments and feelings shifted in favour of emotions is Thomas Dixon (2003). Although the continental European languages have probably retained more nuances than English, the broad shifts analysed by Dixon are nevertheless applicable to Italy. 20. Processo Cardinali 1879, 4–5; Processo Fadda illustrato 1879, 7–8 and 71–72. 21. Processo Cardinali 1879, 73. 22. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. IA, f. 264, mayor of Corigliano Calabro's report of visit to Cardinali's lodgings, dated 7 October 1878. 23. A fuller exploration of these letters from the point of view of the women who wrote them is in Mark Seymour (2010). 24. The Corriere della Sera's correspondent noted the large number of women Cardinali had 'at his disposition' (Impressioni del processo Fadda. Corriere della Sera, October 3–4, 1879, 2). 25. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, Vol 1A, ff. 94–100, interrogation of Giuseppe De Luca, 8 October 1878. 26. Processo Cardinali 1879, 14. 27. Processo Cardinali 1879, 75. 28. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. 1A, ff. 247–254, interrogation of Antonietta Carozza, 19 October 1878. 29. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. 1B, ff. 131–132, interrogation of Antonietta Carozza, 12 November 1878. 30. Cardinali and Carolina had only been married in a religious ceremony. This was insufficient to be considered a marriage in the eyes of the state, which required a civil ceremony. This legal loophole meant that Cardinali was technically unmarried and free to marry another woman – such as Raffaella. 31. ASR, TCP, b. 3659, vol. 1B, ff. 131–132, interrogation of Antonietta Carozza, 12 November 1878. 32. Processo Cardinali 1879, 14. 33. Processo Cardinali 1879, 21. 34. Corriere della Sera, October 1–2, 1879, 2. 35. Il processo Fadda. Il Piccolo, October 1, 1879, 2. 36. Processo Cardinali 1879, 7. 37. Processo Cardinali 1879, 10. 38. Processo Cardinali 1879, 15. 39. Processo Cardinali 1879, 70. 40. Processo Cardinali 1879, 70–71. 41. Processo Cardinali 1879, 74. 42. Processo Cardinali 1879, 77. 43. These statistics, to be taken as indicative, are from the unpublished trial inventories of the Archivio di Stato di Roma. The inventory title is Corte di Assise di Roma. Elenco Alfabetico degli imputati. Fascicoli processuali, 1871–1898.