Lo "spirito di nazione" nel Piemonte sabaudo. Note sul costituzionalismo subalpino tra l'età dei Lumi e i moti del 1820-1821

This essay shows how the constitutional debate and innovations were made possible in Piedmont even before the French Revolution of 1789 through a movement of ideas and the gradual emergence of a new culture political. The modern constitutionalism developed thanks the comparis between the old idea of Piedmontese Fatherland and the new concept of nation, through the birth of the modern sociability, the literary societies and the Masonic lodges, the use of new communication tools such as journals and popular literature. The essay foguses on the role of Giuseppe Vernazza (1745-1822) thorugh a research on her political manuscripts.