Alberto Cappa: un autore gobettiano tra liberalismo paretiano e analisi del Risorgimento e del fascismo

This article aims at reintroducing and examining in depth the liberal thought of Alberto Cappa, strongly influenced by Pareto. A forgotten author nowadays, in 1920s and 1930s he reached a certain celebrity since he published two books within the editorial series of Piero Gobetti and contributed to his journals. Cappa had a prominent role in the first generation of the scholars studying Cavour and the Italian Risorgimento. His book about Vilfredo Pareto was an interesting contribution to the Italian cultural and social history. From Missiroli Cappa drew the key interpretation of the Italian unification as the enlargement of Piedmont, due to Cavour’s political ability to absorb the revolutionary tendencies of his time. Furthermore, Cappa analysed the Fascist phenomenon by highlighting that its most relevant cause in the aftermath of Risorgimento was represented by the social and political dissatisfaction of the middle class, involved in a conflict against the new popular and socialist actors emerged during the age marked by Giovanni Giolitti.