“Insegnare la Patria”: Luca G. Manenti presents his new book in Trieste

The history of the Lega Nazionale and the role it played in the education of Italians living under Austrian rule, as well as an exploration of society and the bourgeois elite of Venezia Giulia between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These are the themes at the heart of Insegnare la patria. Strategie educative della Lega Nazionale nella Venezia Giulia (1891–1929) (Teaching the Fatherland. Educational Strategies of the Lega Nazionale in Venezia Giulia, 1891–1929), the new book by historian Luca G. Manenti, Head of Research at the Società Internazionale di divulgazione Manlio Cecovini per gli studi storici sociali ed etici.

Published by Biblion Edizioni, the book will be presented on Tuesday 15 September at 6.30 pm at the Libreria Antiquaria Umberto Saba, Via San Nicolò 30, Trieste. Manenti will discuss the book with writer and journalist Pietro Spirito, while Paolo Sardos Albertini, President of the Lega Nazionale, will also take part in the event.

Founded in 1891, the Lega Nazionale became the leading association representing Italians living under Austrian rule. Non-partisan, patriotic and active across social classes, it devoted a significant part of its work to education and charitable initiatives, establishing and managing schools, nursery schools and recreational centres throughout Venezia Giulia, until it was eventually absorbed into the structures of the Fascist regime.

Manenti reconstructs the organisation’s political strategies, territorial network and relations with Vienna and the Municipality of Trieste, using the history of the Lega Nazionale as a lens through which to examine the cultural outlook and social behaviour of the Italian bourgeoisie living within the Habsburg Empire while looking, in terms of national identity, towards the Kingdom of Italy.

The result is a study that brings together education, politics, national identity and society, revealing the complexity of an organisation whose educational and welfare initiatives played a significant role in the lives of the Italian communities of Venezia Giulia.

Luca G. Manenti, historian and Head of Research at the Società Internazionale di divulgazione Manlio Cecovini per gli studi storici sociali ed etici, is the author of numerous studies on the political, social and cultural history of the Venezia Giulia region.