L’unificazione d’Italia vista d’oltremare: "Paese d’ombre" di Giuseppe Dessì, amara riflessione sui cambiamenti politici

In "Paese d’ombre", a novel by Giuseppe Dessì, the author reflects on the issue of the national unification from the perspective of the Sardinian town of Norbio and its citizens. The unified Italian Kingdom is added to everlasting misfortunes such as drought, floods, famine and illnesses. In this newly born political body whose citizens are hardly able to communicate with one another, the seemingly disappeared borders are instead more impassable than ever. The pessimistic representation of reality might suggest Dessì’s negative attitude towards that historical moment, nonetheless the critic of the present is directed to improve the future of the State. Undoubtedly, a reasonable estimation of the present is needed rather than false political declarations for the purpose of improving the immutable condition of neglected human beings. The aim of this paper is to present the problems of Italian unification taking into consideration social and geopolitical factors which hindered ultimately the union between citizens in different Italian regions. The author of the present article analyses different governmental policies directed to improve the situation and the consequences of those attempts. In the analysis based on Dessì’s novel, historical sources are taken into account.