Rome in 1860

In Short

This vivid work of political reportage exposes the daily realities of Rome under the temporal rule of Pope Pius IX on the eve of Italian unification. Dicey cuts through romantic tourist illusions to examine how ordinary citizens—from impoverished middle-class professionals to desperate lottery gamblers—navigate severe censorship, corrupt legal systems, and heavy-handed clerical policing. Written during a pivotal moment of historical transition, the book endures as a sharp, eyewitness critique of an authoritarian regime in its dying days and a passionate testament to the Italian struggle for civil liberty.

The Story

The narrative takes the reader past the spellbinding historical glamour of Rome to confront the living city as it existed in 1860. The opening chapters lay bare the stark social hierarchy under Papal rule. While the aristocracy remains largely tied to the priesthood for status and wealth, the growing middle class suffers as social pariahs. Professions are severely overstocked, paid on a meager scale, and stripped of opportunity, while commerce is practically nonexistent. A pervasive system of clerical decrees strictly regulates public and private behavior, driving demoralization and covert vice beneath a surface of forced propriety.

As the account progresses, the focus shifts to the administration of justice and public institutions. A close examination of murder trials reveals an erratic legal apparatus where clerical courts hold absolute power, legal arrests occur without warrants, and prisoners linger for months or years in cruel uncertainty before execution. Public amusements reflect this institutional decay; the population relies heavily on roadside drinking, state-sanctioned lotteries, and intense gambling to escape their dismal circumstances. The state actively promotes the lottery to extract revenue from the poor, even as it fosters dishonesty and widespread financial ruin. Meanwhile, official newspapers print only trivial religious ceremonies and manufactured declarations of loyalty, completely suppressing domestic political news.

The narrative reaches its climax by documenting the rising tide of popular resistance against the Papacy. The Roman populace organizes subtle, silent protests—refraining from smoking and gambling to starve the government of tax revenue, and ignoring engineered provocations by the police. When violent clashes break out on the Corso between citizens and Papal gendarmes, official state reports misrepresent the brutality to justify police actions. In contrast to the solemn, artificial pageantry of the Vatican's Holy Week celebrations, the surrounding Italian countryside erupts into genuine celebration as the unification movement sweeps forward. The author travels through the newly liberated Italian provinces, describing the ecstatic crowds greeting King Victor Emmanuel II. The book closes on a decisive note: while the Italian revolution remains political rather than religious, the temporal power of the Papacy is irrevocably collapsing, bound to yield to the overwhelming demand for a free, united nation.

How It Unfolds

The charm dispelled The journey begins by setting aside historical romanticism to inspect the actual social condition of Rome's living inhabitants, contrasting the cozy privileges of the nobility with the extreme economic misery of the middle class.

Clerical control and legal decay The investigation turns to the institutions of Papal governance, highlighting absurd moral decrees, the secret and protracted nature of murder trials, and the total control exercised by ecclesiastical judges over civil life.

Life in the shadow of the Papacy Daily amusements reveal a demoralized populace reliant on street gambling and state-run lotteries, while the official press churns out absurd propaganda to mask widespread economic stagnation and discontent.

Resistance and liberation Popular defiance breaks into the open through quiet boycotts and street demonstrations, culminating in a journey outside the Papal borders into liberated Italian territory to witness the triumphant rise of a free nation.

The People

The Roman Middle Class Living as the social outcasts of the Papal state, this broad group of lawyers, doctors, tradesmen, and officials seeks economic stability and professional purpose. Their ambitions are constantly thwarted by clerical monopolies on lucrative posts, leaving them to subsist in widespread impoverishment.

The Clerical Rulers Holding absolute administrative, judicial, and moral authority over the state, this body of priests and high-ranking ecclesiastics seeks to preserve the temporal power of the Popedom. They enforce rigid censorship and maintain public order through oppressive legal mechanisms and pervasive surveillance.

The Roman Populace Composed of working people, servants, and street vendors, this public desires relief from heavy taxation and arbitrary rule. Though forced into public compliance and driven to desperate pastimes like the state lottery, they gradually unite in quiet political defiance against their rulers.

The Liberators Represented by the figure of the Soldier-king Victor Emmanuel II and the broader Italian independence movement, this collective force seeks to unite Italy under a constitutional monarchy, breaking the centuries-old temporal control of the Holy See.

In Its Own Voice

"Laying aside all memory of what Rome has been, I would again describe what Rome is now."

A clear statement of purpose introduces the effort to look past ancient monuments and romantic nostalgia in order to observe the real, living city.

"In other countries, a Roman once said to me, you have one man who lives in wealth and a thousand who live in comfort. Here the one man lives in comfort, and the thousand live in misery."

A local resident offers a stark assessment of the economic inequality and widespread distress produced by the Papal administration.

"Everywhere, some half-dozen of dusty open carriages, filled with officers in uniform, passing through crowded streets festooned with flowers, dressed out with banners--everywhere, the one figure of a plain, rough Soldier-king bowing stiffly and slowly from time to time--everywhere, a surging, heaving, shouting crowd."

The author captures the exuberant atmosphere sweeping through the Italian provinces as the forces of unification claim their new territory.

What It's Really About

The core of the book is an uncompromising critique of theoretical governance divorced from human welfare. It argues that an absolute ecclesiastical government, no matter its claim to divine authority, inevitably degrades both the moral character and economic life of its subjects. By examining the daily operations of censorship, secret courts, and state-sponsored vice, the text demonstrates how bad laws and corrupt institutions actively produce demoralized citizens. Beneath the detailed social observation lies a fundamental question about legitimate sovereignty: whether a state exists to serve the earthly well-being and freedom of its people or to preserve an antiquated system of absolute power.

Why Read It Today

This work offers an exceptionally vivid, grounded alternative to typical nineteenth-century travel literature. Readers who enjoy sharp historical journalism, political history, and eyewitness social observation will find themselves fully immersed in the tense, expectant atmosphere of pre-unification Italy. The prose is clean, direct, and delightfully free of mid-Victorian pomposity, prioritizing sharp concrete details over grand eloquence.

While modern readers should navigate period-typical Protestant biases and occasional generalizations about national character, the author's primary focus remains firmly on factual evidence and human empathy. The book's greatest strength lies in its refusal to be seduced by aesthetics; it looks past postcard ruins to measure a society by the freedom and dignity of its living inhabitants. What stays with you long after reading is the memorable portrayal of a population on the very threshold of historic change, quietly asserting its desire for liberty against an empire running out of time.