Censorship of the Visual Arts in Italy 1815–1915

Abstract

In investigating censorship of the visual arts in Italy from the Congress of Vienna (1815) to World War I (1915) one must take into account the specific features of Italian history: on the one hand the belated unification of the nation, achieved only in 1861, and on the other the presence of the papacy, which caused a violent conflict between clericalists and anti-clericalists all through the period.1 At a certain stage this conflict became one between state and church, which was inevitably reflected in censorship.