Dante on the Border (Trento, 1890-1921)

The article focuses on the Dante monument in Trento, which was unveiled on the October 11th, 1896, and played a central role in the Dante centenary of 1921. In the city of Trento the celebrations became strikingly intertwined with the enduring celebrations of the Italian victory in the First World War and the acquisition of the so–called “unredeemed” territories. Conceived in the peculiar historical context of an Italian-speaking territory under the rule of the Austro- Hungarian Empire, the Trento monument reveals the enduring power of Dante as a symbol of the Risorgimento. However, the article aims to challenge the long–lasting interpretation of it as an overtly irredentist artwork advocating for annexation to Italy. This reading became standard after the First World War, overshadowing the complex negotiations of national cultures within the multinational perspective of the Empire. Rather, it retraces the complex development of the monument’s propagandist role, starting from the ode dedicated to its inauguration by Giosuè Carducci and extending to the Great War and the 1921 celebrations. Throughout this period, the artwork became increasingly instrumental in the irredentist and warmongering rhetoric.