Princess Cristina Trivulzio di Belgioioso was one of the most remarkable figures of the Italian Risorgimento — a patriot, journalist, and revolutionary who funded guerrilla fighters and organised nursing during the revolutions of 1848. In this historical study she examines the political and cultural developments in Lombardy over the preceding three decades, analysing Austrian rule, the growth of nationalist sentiment, and what she saw as the failures of will among the Lombard elites.
A rare example of serious historical writing by a nineteenth-century Italian woman, the work is both analytically sharp and personally engaged. Note: this text is in Italian.