Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:38:39.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Epilogue: Risorgimento, freedom, and repression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2010

Get access

Summary

Bologna's problems of public and private security would not end, or even abate, with unity. On the contrary, the Piedmontese police system would soon be put to the test by a series of well-planned and carefully executed robberies within the city, and investigating police officials would subsequently be assassinated for their attempts to solve the crimes. For the first couple of years, many Bolognesi came to wonder if their adherence to the new Italian state had won them any safety in the streets. Eventually, however, administrators sent from Piedmont would win over public opinion and convince provincial elites that Bologna's days as a capital of crime and brigandage had truly ended. In so doing, they would reveal not only the new nation's determination to deal with the problem, but also some interesting advantages brought to policing by the new “liberal” political system. Unfortunately, they would also employ many repressive techniques aimed specifically at the lower classes that were reminiscent of the papal police. In consequence, the moderates' hopes of social regeneration from Italy's political transformation would be eclipsed by a continuing emphasis on control of the dangerous classes as defined essentially by property and profession.

The city seems to have remained relatively calm during most of the transitional period, but a particularly audacious daylight bank robbery in November of 1859 reminded Bologna that the old problem of public security had not somehow magically disappeared.

Type
Chapter
Information
Crime, Disorder, and the Risorgimento
The Politics of Policing in Bologna
, pp. 244 - 254
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×