Opinia publică italiană despre robia din principatele române în perioada dezrobirii

Abstract

The article aims to present the echo of slavery in the Romanian Principalities in the Italian public opinion, during the period of the emancipation of gypsies’ slaves (1831-1856). The Romanian and the Italian space were marked, during this period, by the fulfillment of the national projects embodied in the establishment of unitary, national, independent states. The national program of the political elites it was complemented by the structural reforms. The existence of North Danube slavery was a reality perceived with astonishment and revolt by Italian travelers. For their part, the consuls of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies located in the Danube cities wrote detailed reports in which they presented the social structures, noting the institution of slavery, the types of slaves, their customs, and occupations, surprising the abolitionist movement embodied in the acts of emancipation. Other sources used were the accounts of Italian linguists, geographers, ethnographers regarding the origin of the Roma people and language, supplemented by Italian press fragments, in which aspects of the lives of slaves and information about the policy of emancipation were captured.