The Italian Philhellenism Movement and Ioannis Kapodistrias
Spyridon I. Flogaitis
Director of the European Public Law Organization – Professor at National and Capodistrian University of Athens
Christina E. Papakosta
Historian – Research Associate / Deputy Administrative Director (EPLO Office in Rome)
Marianna Polemi
Research Intern (EPLO Office in Rome)
The paper at hand aims to present the birth and evolution of the Philhellenic movement in Italy and throughout Europe from a literary as well as a military point of view, in preparation for and during the Greek Revolution of 1821. On the one hand, the Greek issue inspired art production in various forms, such as poems, collections, songs, newspapers, periodicals and books in Italian cities as well as in Vienna and London, which prepared the Greek uprising on a conceptual level. On the other, reference is made to the Greeks and Europeans who assisted Kapodistrias in preparing and sustaining the Greek revolution with guns and financial aid, while other Italians such as Palma, Gamba and Santarosa personally took part in the war against the Ottomans. Consequently, parallels are drawn between the Greek and Italian Resurgence as realized by Filiki Eteria and Carbonari respectively, with the objective of liberation, unification and the formation of 19th-century nation-states.
Keywords: Italian Philhellenism; Ioannis Kapodistrias; carbonari; Greek Revolution
* This paper is part of a wider research that concerns the political history of the Ionian Islands from the last quarter of the 18th century to the first quarter of the 19th century and the study of events that led to the formation of the conditions that gave rise to the Revolution of 1821. A first, concise presentation of the findings related to the philhellene movement was presented at a conference on Philhellenism, which was organized by the Society for Hellenism and Philhellenism at the Philhellenism Museum in Athens, on December 14, 2024.
