Letteratura degli esuli italiani a Malta durante il Risorgimento (1804–1849)

Abstract

Malta, a tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean, close to Sicily as much as to Northern Africa, has attracted the attention of some of the more important Italian writers and political activists during the period of the Risorgimento, namely in the first 60 years of the Nineteenth century. Such prominent men of letters and politicians, including a person destined eventually to become Italy's head of state, took an active part in the cultural life of Malta, then a British colony, and strongly contributed towards the formation of a national cultural and political awareness within the Maltese community. There followed a movement in favour of the Maltese language, the birth of a Maltese literature in Maltese, and the gradual formation of political groups intended to attain full constitutional rights. Literature and politics are here presented as different means towards the attainment of a common aim.