This study of the first national festival of modern Italy historically reconstructs the event, using a mass of un-catalogued and unpublished documents left by the organizers, which positions the Centenary as a platform upon which an alternative definition of Italian national identity emerged.

Autorentext
MAHNAZ YOUSEFZADEH Professor in the Liberal Studies Program of Arts and Sciences at New York University, USA.

Inhalt
The Dante Centenary and the Centenary's Dante The City Organizes the Nation: The Structures of the Centenary Carnevalino or 'a Cold Official Discourse': The Program of the Festa Inclusion and Exclusion: The Logic of Participation The New Civic Vanguards: The Press and Public Opinion