Vincenzo Cuoco (October 1, 1770 – December 14, 1823) was an Italian writer. He is mainly remembered for his ''Saggio Storico sulla Rivoluzione Napoletana del 1799'' ("Historical Essay on the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799"). He is a considered one of the precursors of Italian

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...

and the realist school. Cuoco adapted the critique of political rationalism of

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and

Joseph de Maistre Joseph Marie, comte de Maistre (; 1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821) was a Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat who advocated social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Despite his clo ...

for liberal ends, and has been described as a better historian than either of them. He influenced many subsequent Italian intellectuals, from

Ugo Foscolo Ugo Foscolo (; 6 February 177810 September 1827), born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and a poet. He is especially remembered for his 1807 long poem ''Dei Sepolcri''. Early life Foscolo was born in Zakynthos in the Io ...

and

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...

Bertrando {{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Bertrando , image = , caption = , sire = Skywalker , dam = Gentle Hands , damsire = Buffalo Lark , sex = Stallion , foaled = 1989 , country = United States , colour = Dark Bay , breeder = Ed Nahem , ...

and

Silvio Spaventa Silvio Spaventa (12 May 1822 – 20 June 1893) was an Italian journalist, politician and statesman who played a leading role in the unification of Italy, and subsequently held important positions within the newly formed Italian state. Early lif ...

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a li ...

and

Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a fo ...

Biography

Early life

Vincenzo Cuoco was born into a

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

family in the town of

Civitacampomarano Civitacampomarano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Campobasso in the Italian region Molise, located about north of Campobasso. Civitacampomarano borders the following municipalities: Castelbottaccio, Castelmauro, Guardialfiera, L ...

, near

Campobasso Campobasso (, ; nap, label= Campobassan, Cambuàsce ) is a city and '' comune'' in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Molise and of the province of Campobasso. It is located in the high basin of the Biferno river, surrounded by ...

in the

Molise it, Molisano (man) it, Molisana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 ...

region of central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. His

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

was Michelangelo Cuoco, a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

and economist, while his

mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ...

was Colomba de Marinis. He studied in his native town under Francesco Maria Pepe, then moved to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

in 1787 to study

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

and become a lawyer, but instead found himself attracted to

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, and

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

. In Naples he had the opportunity to meet some of the prominent

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator o ...

s of

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

, including

Giuseppe Maria Galanti Giuseppe Maria Galanti (1743–1806) was an Italian historian and economist, in the Kingdom of Naples. Life Galanti was born in Santa Croce del Sannio, Molise. He was a follower of Pietro Giannone and studied under Antonio Genovesi. While young ...

, who in a letter to Vincenzo's father described the young man as ''capace, di molta abilità e di molto talento'' ("able, of great skill and great talent"), although ''trascurato'' ("careless") and ''indolente'' ("lazy"); Galanti was probably not entirely satisfied with Vincenzo's collaboration on his ''Descrizione Geografica e Politica delle Sicilie''. During his studies, Cuoco was deeply influenced by Enlightenment writers from Southern Italy (Genovesi, Galiani, and of course Galanti) and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the princi ...

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

), as well as by earlier writers, especially

Giambattista Vico Giambattista Vico (born Giovan Battista Vico ; ; 23 June 1668 – 23 January 1744) was an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist during the Italian Enlightenment. He criticized the expansion and development of modern rationali ...

and

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

Revolution and exile

When the Neapolitan revolution broke out in January 1799, Vincenzo Cuoco strongly supported the new

Republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

an government installed in place of the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...

; he became secretary to Ignazio Gonfalonieri and was tasked with the organisation of the

Volturno The Volturno (ancient Latin name Volturnus, from ''volvere'', to roll) is a river in south-central Italy. Geography It rises in the Abruzzese central Apennines of Samnium near Castel San Vincenzo (province of Isernia, Molise) and flows sout ...

Department. Following the reinstatement of the monarchy in June 1799, Cuoco was imprisoned for a few months, his belongings confiscated, and was then forced into

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

. He took refuge first in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, then in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, where he published his main work ("''Saggio Storico sulla Rivoluzione Napoletana del 1799''"). He accepted positions in the Repubblica Cisalpina and the Repubblica Italiana, most notably the job of

executive editor Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dire ...

of the "''Giornale Italiano''"

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

during the period 1804–1806. His articles in the ''Giornale'' spurred Italians towards change in ethics, society, politics, and the economy, in order to make themselves worthy of

national independence The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

. During this period, he also wrote his

epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...

"''Platone in Italia''", published in 1806).

Back to Naples

In 1806 Vincenzo Cuoco returned to

, as

had been deposed in favour of Giuseppe Bonaparte (

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

's elder brother). He was given significant responsibilities in the public administration, first as ''Consigliere di Cassazione'' (councilor to the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

), then as ''Direttore del Tesoro'' (director of the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...

); he distinguished himself as one of the most important councilors of the government of

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

. He wrote for the

''Monitore delle Due Sicilie'' ("Monitor of the Two Sicilies"), and founded the ''Giornale Costituzionale delle Due Sicilie'' ("Constitutional Journal of the Two Sicilies"). In 1809, Cuoco also drafted a ''Progetto per l'Ordinamento della Pubblica Istruzione nel Regno di Napoli''" ("Project for the Ordainment of Public Education in the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

"), in which he expounded his view of public education as an indispensable tool towards the formation of a common national awareness in the people. In 1808 he was the president of the

Accademia Pontaniana The Accademia Pontaniana was the first academy in the modern sense, as a learned society for scholars and humanists and guided by a formal statute. Patronized by Alfonso V of Aragon, it was founded by the poet Antonio Beccadelli in Naples during ...

. In 1810 he was named Chief of the Provincial Council of

and, in 1812, wrote the ''Viaggio in Molise'' ("Journey Through Molise") about his native region. In 1815, after Ferdinand I was restored to the throne following the

Battle of Tolentino The Battle of Tolentino was fought from 2–3 May 1815 near Tolentino, Kingdom of Naples in what is now Marche, Italy: it was the decisive battle in the Neapolitan War, fought by the Napoleonic King of Naples Joachim Murat to keep the throne aft ...

, Cuoco retired from politics.

Illness and death

After his retirement, Cuoco started to show worrying signs of mental instability. He reportedly destroyed some of his writings, had frequent breakdowns, and became increasingly apathetic and withdrawn from social life. There are no clues as to the exact cause of these symptoms; but whatever the disease was, he died of it in

in 1823.

Works

* ''Lettere a Vincenzo Russo'' ("Letters to Vincenzo Russo") - Written during the 1799 Neapolitan Republic, the letters comment on the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

that was being written for the nascent Republic and champion

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

. * ''Saggio Storico sulla Rivoluzione Napoletana del 1799'' ("Historical Essay on the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799") - Published in 1801 in

, where Cuoco was exiled, is a passionate critique of the short-lived republican Revolution, which Cuoco identified as doomed to failure (because it was carried out by an elite of revolutionaries detached from the common people), yet praiseworthy (because it tried to free the people and was paid for with the heroic sacrifice of the revolutionaries' lives once the monarchy was restored). Cuoco wrote a second edition which was published in 1806 and remains the standard account to this day. * ''Platone in Italia'' ("Plato in Italy") - Published in 1806 in

, this is an

in which Cuoco imagines an ancient

civilisation A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Civ ...

that flourished in

before the

Greek colonisation Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC. This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that ...

and yearns for a spiritual rebirth of Italy stemming from its own traditions, and not from foreign influences. This theme would be reprised continually throughout the

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

, most notably by

Vincenzo Gioberti Vincenzo Gioberti (; 5 April 180126 October 1852) was an Italian Catholic priest, philosopher, publicist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Sardinia from 1848 to 1849. He was a prominent spokesman for liberal Catholicism. Bio ...

References

* A. Boroli et al., ''Universo - la grande enciclopedia per tutti'', Istituto Geografico De Agostini S.p.A.,

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

, 1970; * Various, ''Enciclopedia'', UTET

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

- Istituto Geografico De Agostini S.p.A.,

Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso GEDI Gruppo Editoriale S.p.A., formerly known as Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso S.p.A. is an Italian media conglomerate. Founded in 1955, it is based in Turin, Italy. History In 2009, the group L'Espresso created an online advertising consortiu ...

S.p.A.,

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, 2003; * Mario Pazzaglia, ''Letteratura Italiana'' vol. 3, third edition,

Zanichelli Zanichelli editore S.p.A. is an Italian publishing company founded in Modena, Italy, in 1859. It publishes mainly textbooks for school, university and professional books (legal texts and medicine), dictionaries, and reference books. History The ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

, 1992. * Massimo Colella, ''Luigi Russo interprete di Vincenzo Cuoco. Un inedito corso universitario'', in «Otto/Novecento», 2020, pp. 153-187.

Notes

External links

''Scrittori d'Italia''
is an authorised digital reproduction of some old editions the works of Vincenzo Cuoco published by Laterza (publisher). This includes ''Platone in Italia'' (1916 edition of volume I, 1924 edition of volume II), ''Saggio Storico sulla Rivoluzione Napoletana del 1799'' (1913 edition), and ''Scritti Vari.'' (1924 edition of volume I, written while in Milan, and 1924 edition of volume II, written while in Naples). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuoco, Vincenzo 1770 births 1823 deaths People from the Province of Campobasso Italian essayists Italian male non-fiction writers 19th-century Italian historians Italian economists Male essayists Italian Freemasons People of the Parthenopean Republic