Religioni e politica in Andrea Zambelli: un capitolo del machiavellismo nella cultura lombarda pre-unitaria

Andrea Zambelli (1794-1861) – Politics Legislation and Sciences professor, Rector of Pavia University – is an outstanding author in the context of liberal culture of Lombardy, which is the framework of Cattaneo’s federalism and of political reflections before Unification. Zambelli maintains a close relationship with Machiavelli’s thought. The essay Alcune Considerazioni sul libro del Principe di Macchiavelli, published in Milan in 1841, was often proposed as an introduction to some editions of the Segretario Fiorentino’s works, between the second half of the 19th century and the first twenty years of the following. Zambelli, who is regarded as one of the most prominent scholars who worked on Machiavelli’s thought during the Risorgimento – by Cavalli, Villari, Croce, Curcio, Procacci – is remembered for works where the analysis and the criticism of historical-religious matters from a political point of view can be consistently found, such as the treatise Delle differenze politiche fra i popoli antichi e moderni (in two books, the former deals with war, the latter with religion) and the essays Di alcune moderne utopie and Sull’influenza politica dell’Islamismo. Zambelli’s work about Machiavelli is relevant for its modern approach, aiming to carry out a reshaping of the historical character of the political tradition during the Renaissance, into a wider European context. Andrea Zambelli (1794-1861), an outstanding author in the context of the liberal culture of Lombardy, framework of Cattaneo’s federalism and of polit-ical reflections before Unification, maintains a close relationship with Machi-avelli’s thought. Alcune Considerazioni sul libro del Principe di Macchiavelli is relevant for its modern approach, reshaping the historical character of the political tradition in the Renaissance into a wider European context. Zambel-li, one of the most prominent scholars who worked on Machiavelli’s thought during the Risorgimento, is remembered for his analysis and criticism of his-torical-religious matters from a political point of view in his Delle differenze politiche fra i popoli antichi e moderni and Sull’influenza politica dell’Islamismo.