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324
Contemporary chronicles, among which the celebrated
Journal historique
of Solaro della
Margarita, undoubtedly represent sources for most of the later historiography, which is
consolidated around the
topoi
of social cohesion in the times of the siege and of the dawn-
ings of the spirit of ‘Italian-ness’, creating in parallel the myth of popular heroism and of
devout obedience to the monarchy embodied in the figure of Pietro Micca. This historical
reconstruction is first strongly codified in the period of Carlo Alberto, then continued
through the work of moderate historians up to the celebrations of 1906, until finally find-
ing a significant point of arrival in a series of initiatives during the twenty-year period of
Fascism, which interpreted the events in terms of a declared predestination of the Savoys
to guide and realise Italian Unity through the exaltation of the figures of Princes Eugenio
and Vittorio Amedeo II.
Translation by Harriet Graham