Back
to Homepage Annuario 2003
p.
392
Giovenale Vegezzi Ruscalla
between two Motherlands
Italy and Romania
Generally, the Romanian
historiography tends to consider the French cultural and political space as a
model for the formation of the Romanians in the 19th century. While
the German culture is also acknowledged a certain role settled at a
considerable distance and especially in connection with Junimea, Italy
and Great Britain are neglected almost to oblivion. The efforts made by Ramiro
Ortiz or Alexandru Marcu, in their case real works, or more recent attempts
referring to the British influence on the Romanian culture[1],
only prompted a relative interpretation of the issue by the small number of
specialists.
The case of
Giovenale Vegezzi Ruscalla is eloquent on this line. Almost forgotten today and
recalled especially by Italianists in their studies, Ruscalla was an enduring
friend devoted to the cause of the Romanians, at a time when Romania was in
need of voices to make it known in Europe. He inaugurated in Italy the range of
Romanophiles, which would include personalities such as Marc Antonio Canini or
Angelo de Gubernatis, the good friend of B. P. Hasdeu whom he visited later on
in his Câmpina castle.
He was born in
Turin, in 1799, in an impoverished family, which pushed him to take his fate in
his own hands at an early age. He chose a civil servant career in the diplomatic
service[2],
the place where he had most probably the opportunity to get in touch with the
first information about the Romanians. His diplomatic career obliged him to
unravel the meanings of the European policy in an era that heralded the
definition of the principle of nationalities, which was later on applied in
order to solve the unity of Italy and of Romania.
Like the Romanian militants of 1848, whom he largely
knew and was in touch with, Ruscalla was not only a politician, but also a man
of letters, the two aspects being happily intermingled in a whole easy to find
everywhere in Europe at that time. The climax of his political career came up
in 1860, when he was elected deputy in the Italian Parliament. He dedicated the
last period of his life especially to the literary activity and the successful
attempts to transmit to his elder daughter, Ida Melisurgo-Ruscalla, the
sympathy for, and the interest in the Romanians. He passed away in 1885.
Ruscalla embarked
upon a lengthy and fruitful series of contacts with the Romanians probably by
the beginning of the fourth decade of the 19th century, during a
p. 393
trip to Transilvania and
Banat, on which occasion he picked up the basics of the Romanian language.
Passionate about Romance philology, the similarities between Italian and
Romanian were to arouse his interest, as well as his wish to popularize in his
country the Romanian literature unknown there. For that purpose, in November
1845 he asked George Barițiu[3],
the editor of Gazeta de Transilvania to which Ruscalla had subscribed,
to set him in touch with someone willing to alleviate the difficulties
connected with the absence of bibliography.
Actually, our
author was perfectly aware of the point of view of the French and German
scholars, and now he wanted to get acquainted also with the stand of the
Romanian philologists. Barițius answer inaugurated a friendship continued
through letters and direct meetings, as it happened during Barițius studies in
Italy. He had the same relation with another 1848 militant from Transilvania,
Alexandru Papiu-Ilarian, whom he had met during the latters studies in Padua,
and whose paper The constitutional independence of Transilvania he published
after 1848. From the beginning, the Romanians, too little known, were
considered outposts of the Latin Europe[4],
and similarly the Italian culture did not enjoy much attention from the
Romanians, which rendered Ruscalla twice happy if he could be the instrument
likely to arouse the love for the Italian language and literature among the young
men in Wallachia.
His activity of
popularization of the Romanian language and literature in Italy was important
and it is not yet fully known, because his studies and articles were published
in various newspapers and magazines, starting with Rivista Contemporanea,
which chief editor he was, to magazines quite obscure today. As he himself
wrote in a letter to V. Alecsandri, I started speaking about the Romanians at
a time when they were considered Turks, Slavs or Tartars here[5],
and his efforts were constants.
The change in the
international policy, as it happened on the occasion of the Peace Congress in
Paris, in 1856, when the Romanian and the Italian problems had become European issues,
was a new opportunity for Ruscalla to make himself heard speaking in favor of
the Romanians. The articles published in Lo Spetattore or Il Mondo
Letterario are a proof thereof[6].
Even later on, when the independence was gained and the Romanian state was
proclaimed, the Italian octogenarian carried on, with the energy of a
youngster[7],
the propaganda in favor of the Romanians. Mention would be worthy that today,
the theory of the common origin of the two languages, Romanian and Italian,
appears to us natural and self-evident, but at that time the situation was not
p. 394
similar at all, and
Ruscallas pioneering work deserves once again to be considered at its real
value.
Apart from the
cultural propaganda in favor of the Romanians, Vegezzi Ruscalla provided an
intense political activity in his double capacity, that of a publicist and a
politician. As a publicist, he backed the national movement of the Romanians in
Transilvania against the articles published by the Hungarians in Italy[8],
in an epoch when the Government in Vienna had liberalized, after 1861, the
political regime, in the attempt to reform the state.
The reform of the
electoral law of the Empire gave the Romanians the chance of the Romanian Dieta
of Sibiu in 1863, a chance which unfortunately failed but which would
definitely open up the road to the moment 1867. The Hungarian pressure was
directed not only against the Imperial Government, but also against the
European diplomatic circles, especially through the media, and Ruscalla tried
to offset this action in Italy. In the media confrontation, of whose importance
the Romanians had become aware and which they were to use in the case of the
Memorandum, their friend from Turin played an important part because he
presented a different point of view.
The union of
Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 and the emergence of the Romanian state
occasioned to our hero an outburst of enthusiasm, which he transmitted to
Vasile Alecsandri[9].
Concurrently, he proposed to intervene directly with the Italian Prime Minister,
Count of Cavour, whose chief of staff was Ruscallas son in law, Constantino
Nigra. He drew the attention to the complicate European political situation and
recommended to exchange the messages through the Italian Legations in Berlin or
Constantinople to prevent their falling into the hands of the Austrian police.
An understanding
between Italy and Romania was necessary, in his opinion, especially that the
future is dark, but if the nations advance in unity, if France gets imbued with
the importance of the hegemony of the Latin race, we shall surmount the
obstacles. Interesting to note appears the fact that Ruscalla drew the
attention to the external policy waged by Napoleon III, ready to yield Romania
to Austria, in exchange for the Veneto region[10].
In spite of the support granted by France to
the Italian cause, the Italian diplomat remains the same cool observer of the
European policy and notes, like his contemporary C. A. Rosetti and in spite of
some passionate Francophiles, the danger that accompanies Frances attempt to
pursue its interests of a great power. His prudence in relation with the
attitude of Emperor Napoleon III is due also to his repeal of the excessive
authority of the latter, which displeased him also in the case of Alexandru Ioan
Cuza.
His liberal
spirit prompted him to oppose the methods through which Cuza censured the
press, which explains why, like the Italians, the Romanians rebelled against
the Prince in February 1866[11].
The information, learnt also through his son-in-law C. Nigra, who now
represented Italy in Paris, was communicated to the Romanian
p. 395
politicians, and he
considered himself happy to be able to contribute to Romanias development.
Of the numerous
Romanians with whom he was in contact, 1848 militants or from the period of the
Constitutional monarchy, some of them being known to him personally, he had a
special relation with Vasile Alecsandri. He knew the work of the latter;
actually he had translated and published excerpts of it as early as 1855, and
had been enticed by the literary gift of the poet. He had also expressed his
admiration directly, through letters mediated by Ioan Bălăceanu who had
preceded Alecsandri as a diplomat in Italy.
The trip made by
the poet to the Peninsula was determined by the diplomatic efforts made by the
new ruler Al. I. Cuza to obtain the acknowledgement of the union and of his
double election in January 1859. Arriving in Turin and received with all the
due honors, V. Alecsandri was introduced in the political Italian circles by Ruscalla
who was to back him also in his future missions until 1861. The relation
between Ruscalla and Nigra was important because the latter had become one of
the decision-makers in the Italian policy, and remained active also after the
death of Cavour. The Romanian poet was grateful to his Turin friend both for
the unconditional political support granted to him, and the unreserved
admiration declared in the articles dedicated to him.
A less known
detail is that Alecsandri had enthusiastically embraced Ruscallas idea
regarding the Italian origin of the poets family. Ruscallas wife originated
in a family called Alessandrini of Monferrat, which made him write in a letter
to Alecsandri we are connected in one more way[12].
The similarity of the two names was accidental, but what mattered for Vasile
Alecsandri was only the substance of the argument advanced by his friend,
ultimately a philologist. The intention of Ruscalla was to find one more
argument to strengthen an already sound friendship, although it also determined
the poet to re-write his biography, even if that stirred the irony of some of
his contemporaries. Back to his country, Alecsandri made known the effort of
his Italian friend in favor of the cause of the Romanians and had a laudable
initiative that we will mention hereafter. If the Romanian had an ally in the
person of Ruscalla in the relations with Cavour, the latter also introduced the
Italian to Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza who recognized his merits.
In the autumn of
the year 1865, Giovenale Vegezzi Ruscalla requested Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza
to be granted the position of unofficial agent, in order to have the
possibility to approach all the ministries, and initiate useful treaties
between the two states[13],
which would have conferred more importance to the steps taken by him with the
Italian authorities. His arguments were related not only to the sincerity of
his feelings towards the Romanians, but also to the political and diplomatic
experience in an epoch which announced a new, decisive war between Russia and
Austria, with important consequences for the European policy. The rushing
events in Romania and
p. 396
the changing of the
political regime in Bucharest prevented him from receiving an official answer.
But not the same
thing happened with the collaboration between the Moldavian Government of Cuza
and Ruscalla on the issue of the Romanian students in Italy. Actually, a review
of the Romanophile activity of the Italian cavalier can be the starting point
of an investigation of the Italian archives in view of a solid study of the
importance of Italy in the formation of the Romanian intellectuality of the 19th
century.
The Minister of
Religious Affairs and Public Instruction of Moldavia, Cuciureanu, aware of the
activity of the Turinese, approached him in May 1861 with the request to accept
the position of inspector of the Romanian students sent with scholarships to
study in Turin, the first group leaving in the autumn 1860[14].
Ruscalla accepted the proposal and declared himself always able to satisfy the
wishes of your government and to be, in case of need, the advocate and trustee
of the young Romanian students[15].
He said he was willing to take care of the Wallachian students to fulfill in
that way an intimate wish of the two nations of ours.
Among the
students he had already known he mentioned Alexandrescu Urechia, to whom he
added later on, in a letter to Vasile Boerescu dated 1863, the names of
Vernescu and Rosiu. Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza was to send to him in June 1861
the decree by which he was appointed the correspondent of Our Government in
the relations of the country with the establishments in Italy as a sign of
gratitude for the brotherly feelings which inspire him for our national
interests[16]. Probably,
the person who contributed not only to sending the Romanian students to Italy[17]
but also to choosing Ruscalla to act as an inspector with them had been Vasile
Alecsandri. The contact with the Romanian students also inspired him to
organize a course in Romanian language and literature starting in 1863 at the
University of Turin, which he partially published later on[18].
His training as a Romance scholar was completed, also thanks to the documents
sent by Romanian friends, with that of a scholar of the Romanian language,
maybe the first one to have such interests.
The cultural and
didactic activity did not determine him to abandon the political action,
enhanced by the outburst of the Russian-Turkish war of 1878-1879, to which
Romania, pushed by its wish to obtain its independence, was also a party. In
Rome, in 1879, Ruscalla proposed to establish an Italian-Romanian committee[19],
to support the cause of the Romanians. Once again he remained faithful to his
slogan already quoted by us, chosen as early as his first letter to George
Barițiu: we are a people of brothers.
p. 397
The merits of
Vegezzi Ruscalla have been severally acknowledged in Romania, where he was
designated to represent Romania at Ravenna on the occasion of the celebration
of 600 years since the birth of Dante Alighieri[20],
declared honorary citizen of Romania through the law of March 8, 1863[21],
elected as honorary member of the Romanian Academy in 1869 and decorated with Steaua
României by King Charles I[22].
In all these occasions Ruscalla succeeded to assert himself as a landmark in
the conscience of his Romanian contemporaries. Whether we refer to Dimitrie
Bolintineanu who sent him his books and compared the French professor Chasles,
another forgotten Romanophile, to Ruscalla[23],
or to Titu Maiorescu who encouraged him to read Anuarul României of
Iași, a gymnasium whose director he was[24],
or even to Ion Ghica, Alexandru G. Golescu and many others, all of them saw a
friend and a model in Ruscalla.
Italian by origin and Romanian through his work,
Giovenale Vegezzi Ruscalla deserves the gratitude not only of his Romanian
contemporaries, but also of our own.
For this material, permission is granted for electronic copying,
distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use.
Whether you intend to utilize it in scientific purposes, indicate the
source: either this web address or the Annuario. Istituto Romeno di cultura
e ricerca umanistica 5 (2003), edited by Șerban Marin, Rudolf Dinu, Ion
Bulei and Cristian Luca, Bucharest, 2004
No permission is granted for commercial use.
© Șerban Marin, March 2004, Bucharest, Romania
Back
to Homepage Annuario 2003
[1] Clara Liliana Dragoș, Anglia-model în cultura
română (1800-1850), Bucharest: Tehnică, 1996; idem, Conexiuni româno-engleze și ideea de Europa,
Cluj-Napoca: Casa Cărții de Știință, 2002.
[2] The most
complete biography of G. V. Ruscalla is in Teodor Onciulescu, G. Vegezzi Ruscalla e i romeni, Ephemeris
daco-romani 9 (1940): 351-445.
[3] Ioan Chindriș, Scriitori străini în arhive
românești. Giovenale Vegezzi Ruscalla, Manuscriptum 9 (1978), 2:
170-171.
[4] Ibidem:
172.
[5] Scrisori
către Vasile Alecsandri (edited by Marta Anineanu),
Bucharest: Minerva, 1978: 422.
[6] Alexandru Marcu, Romanticii italieni și
românii, Bucharest: Cultura Națională, 1924: 94.
[7] Costin Brăescu, LItalia in Romania,
Roma, 1881: 11.
[8] Marcu, op. cit.: 137.
[9] Scrisori
către Vasile Alecsandri, cit.: 425; Marcu,
V. Alecsandri și Italia, Bucharest: Cultura Națională, 1927: 98-99.
[10] Chindriș, op. cit.: 174-175.
[11] Ibidem.
[12] Letter of
January 6 ,1858 published by Marcu, op. cit.: 97.
[13] Chindriș, op. cit.: 173.
[14] Arhivele
Naționale Istorice Centrale, fund Ministerul Cultelor și Instrucțiunii Publice,
file 342/1861: 12.
[15] Ibidem: 3.
[16] Ibidem: 14.
[17] Marcu, Mentorul studenților moldoveni
de la Torino (1860-1861), in În amintirea lui Vasile Pârvan, Bucharest,
1934: 181.
[18] Idem, Romanticii italieni, cit.:
94.
[19] Ibidem:
139.
[20] Ibidem:
94.
[21] Onciulescu, op. cit.: 418.
[22] Brăescu, op. cit.: 11.
[23] Documente și
manuscrise literare (edited by Paul Cornea
and Elena Piru), vol. I,
Bucharest: Academiei, 1967: 112-115.
[24] Titu Maiorescu, Jurnal
și epistolar (edited by Georgeta Rădulescu-Dulgheru
and Domnica Filimon), IV,
Bucharest: Minerva, 1983: 155.