I BENI DEGLI ESULI. I SEQUESTRI AUSTRIACI IN VENETO TRA CONTROLLO POLITICO E PRASSI BUROCRATICA (1848-1861)

The thesis proposes a study about the Italian exile in the year before the Unification of Italy, with a particular attention to the decade 1848-1859. The work aims to identify the protagonists of the Venetian exile that are mainly neglected by the historiography. The purpose of this work is to create a data-base in which catalogue, as completely as possibile, the informations about the financial conditions of the exiles after and before their comdamnation to the seizure of goods organizated by the Austrian from 1848 to 1857, the social status, the effectiveness or the ineffectiveness of the measures taken by the patriots to safeguard their goods and the the strategies prepared by the Austrian authorities to complete the seizure. The social and economical aspects of the exiles of the Risorgimento were for long time neglected and a cultural and political perspective was preferred. It is also important to underline that for the first time the exile became a massive phenomenon, involving any social class and age, not only the great aristocracy and the rich bourgeoisie. This essay is divided into four chapters: in the first is underline the argument of the origins of confiscation and seizure in Lombardy and Venetia during the modern age, through a detailed study of crucial moments, as the 1797 in Venice and the Napoleonic period. The second aims to show every measure taken by the Austrian administrations in the years between 1848 and 1857, with also an analysis of the years 1860-1866. The third and the fourth chapters are devoted to observe the work of the Austrian administration offices and the strategies and the real state of the exiles and their familes.