Return to Rome

Abstract

Abstract At the end of the 19th century, the Italian state seemed to be heading for an irreversible crisis. Faced with this challenge, many academics were quick to reaffirm the value of the unified state and rejected every reading of Italian identity which did not sustain the idea of complete uniformity. This area is covered in this chapter, which deals with the renewal of the study of Roman history through the example of the work of Ettore Pais. A keen admirer of Micali, he soon adopted the model suggested by Mommsen, which saw in Roman expansionism a work of political and cultural unification of the whole of Italy. Pais’s main concern, therefore, was the construction of the nation’s common historical identity. That is why he aligned himself with all the political choices of the nationalist movement, from colonialism to the interventionism of the First World War and the acceptance of Fascism.