Il comando possibile. ll “giallo” della legge Casati in Emilia e Romagna, tra centro e periferia

Italian Unification was realized in a rapid and firm, but imperfect way: or maybe was it perfect? The school was one of the crucial centres of the construction of the arising Kingdom of Italy. However, its legislative uniformity remained a mirage for a long time, not only for the difference between the “legal school” and the “real school”, but also for the persistence of rules and practices related to several pre-unification traditions. This contribution investigates the forms and the ways of the implementation of the Casati law to the provinces of Emilia and Romagna. Particularly, the attention is focused on the case of Bologna, highlighting the phases of the implementation, the reasons and the consequences of a bold autonomy, widely practiced during the nineteenth century, echo of an imperfect nationalization, or rather “negotiated” between the centre and the periphery.