Uno scrittore francese alla spedizione dei Mille

Abstract

Maxime Du Camp’s Expédition des Deux Siciles, published in 1861, gives an account of his experiences as a volunteer in the Expedition of the Thousand (Spedizione dei Mille, 1860). Within the wide corpus of writings related to this military campaign, Du Camp’s hitherto largely neglected memoir is characterized by its many descriptions of the places, customs and local people (with their prejudices, their lack of education, and their genuine patriotic fervour) which the author encountered while marching north from Pizzo Calabro to Naples. As for the charismatic leader of the expedition, Du Camp does not subscribe to the Garibaldi myth: he acknowledges his achievements and merits, but he also highlights his very substantial limitations as a politician.