Abstract
This article draws a connection between the secular, federalist and libertarian traditions
of the Risorgimento and the birth of the Italian Federation of the First International. It does so
starting from a reflection on the various geographies that during the Risorgimento were used to
prefigurate the new model of nation, which demonstrate how federalist options were always the
most radical and the closest to the origins of the socialist and libertarian movement. This is not only
because of the idea of administrative decentralization and the intransigent republicanism of authors
and militants who strongly opposed the centralism, militarism and colonialism (internal and external)
of the House of Savoy which made the formal unification of the Italian State, but also because,
as widely demonstrated by the available sources, Risorgimento federalism was far from being
limited to an administrative or regionalist option. It was associated with ideas of decentralization
of decision-making, empowerment of individuals and direct democracy. These also characterized
those federalists, like Carlo Cattaneo, who did not explicitly embrace socialism, at least not in its
authoritarian versions, but maintained consistent anti-authoritarian and internationalist positions.