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The Avvival of the Gveat Wondevof Ballet, or Ballet in Rome from 1845 to 1855 C L A U D I A C E L I The period from 1845 to 1855 was rich in significant events both for the city of Rome and for the future kingdom of Italy. These events led to a process of radical renewal in Italian politics and society. In these same years the most celebrated Romantic dancers appeared on the stages of Rome-from Fanny Cerrito to Fanny Elssler, Lucile Grahn to Marie Taglioni and Carlotta Grisi, soon followed by the stars of La Scala. Through them, Romans came to know the era's most celebrated choreographers whose work reflected the dominant currents within ballet romanticism -the historical, which was especially popular in Italy and strongly tinged with patriotism, and the fantastic, of French derivation. By the end of the decade Giuseppe Rota's "dance-mime actions" had not only synthesized the stylistic solutions associated with these currents but also gone beyond them. Roughly speaking, the dance offerings of the Roman theater recapitulated styles set in other centers, most notably Milan and Venice. However, they also echoed the political events of the period, making a knowledge of the historical background essential. In 1843 Vincenzo Gioberti, amid a climate of excited political debate, published his Primato morale e civile degli italiani (The Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians) in which he supported the creation of an Italian confederation under the leadership of the Pope. Encouraged by the accession of Pius IX to the papacy, adherents to the neo-Guelph myth quickly appeared. Meanwhile, Pius IX (formerly Cardinal Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti), along with Charles Albert, King of Sardinia-Piedmont, and Leopold I1 of Tuscany, took an important step toward the creation of the first Italian customs league. Preceded by Ferdinand 11, King of the Two Sicilies, all three promised to grant new constitutions within a year. Enthusiasm spread unrestrainedly. Its congenital apathy shaken, Rome sang the praises of the pope-king who embraced a liberal course, first with amnesty for political crimes and the concession of freedom of the press, then with the institution of the civil guard, and lastly by entrusting the consultative organs of government to laymen. In 1847, celebrations were permitted in honor of "Ciceruacchio," the commoner who had become a tribune, and a "motu proprio" abolished the act of subjection that Jews annually had to make to the Roman Senate. But despite the 1848 address in which the pope pronounced the famous words, "Great God, bless Italy," and the initial alignment of papal troops at Charles Albert's flank, the pontiff ended up keeping his distance from the insurrection, 166 / C L A U D I A C E L I declaring that as head of the Church he could not bear arms against Catholics. The popular reaction against this change of course culminated in the assassination of Minister Pellegrino Rossi. As Pasquino bitterly commented: "Let us not delude ourselves.. ..To say 'a patriotic priest' is to say a white raven; to be pope and to be liberal is a contradiction in terms."' While the pope escaped to Gaeta, the triumvirs Giuseppe Mazzini, Carlo Armellini, and Aurelio Saffi proclaimed the Republic of Rome. But the dream of a "third Rome," the Rome of the people, collapsed despite the strenuous resistance put up by Giuseppe Garibaldi's forces against the French troops led by General Nicolas Oudinot. The failure of the revolutionary movements of 1848-1 849 blocked the national unification process for the next two decades, when new upheavals led to the taking of Rome. In 1870, the city became the capital of the kingdom of Italy. What was the character of this city that aroused such intense hatred and passionate love? Encircled by the Aurelian Walls, Rome lay concentrated around the Tiber River. The city's appearance was very different then from today. The river, undammed, had no banks, and everywhere there were gardens, even within the city walls. The watercolors of Franz Roesler convey some of the picturesque charm of the nineteenth-century Roman landscape. The fascination with Rome seemed to defy explanation , and foreigners sometimes considered the place a veritable enigma. They complained about the pollution and the dilapidated state of the city, the widespread panhandling, and the general ignorance of the common people, all the while flocking to the city and making it their home. O n first arriving, many were shocked to see sheep grazing...

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