Prove di sensibilità per gli animali e la natura: le origini della “questione caccia” nell’Italia liberale

A “hunting question”, defined as the regulation of hunting and forms of wildlife protection, began to take shape in Europe in the second half of the 19th century and in Italy gave rise to a lively and interesting debate. The article illustrates its main issues and shows how the problem of hunting acted as a link between movements for animal protection and those for the protection of the environment. Moreover it sheds light on how the “hunting question” was also important for the consolidation of the first forms of sensitivity to nature and living species. In relation to Italy in the years between the 19th and 20th centuries, the article analyzes the battles of the animal protection societies against the “inhuman hunting” and the “bird massacre”, the positions and objectives of the naturalist movement, the main concrete results of these mobilizations.