[hetalia - the unification of italy, part ii]

[adesso]

title: The Best of All Possible Worlds, Part II
fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia
rating: PG
word count: ~7,800
characters: Italy, Romano, Austria, Hungary (featuring historical guests Camillo di Cavour, Pope Pius IX, and Giuseppe Garibaldi)
summary: In the 19th century, the nation of Italy exists only as "a geographic expression." Veneziano and Romano

Comments

[adesso]

Ah, I'm sorry you feel that way. It is difficult sometimes to reconcile how the characters feel with how their citizens feel, and that was something I wanted to play around with in this fic - that's why I wrote the scene with Hungary, because I feel like even though the Hungarians themselves resented Austrian rule and were revolting at this time, Hungary the person would've been torn because of her own feelings about Austria. It's especially tricky with Veneziano, because he seems to me like the type of person who doesn't want to think about the truly bad things in life, even when he's hurting because of them. He's not happy living with Austria, but I feel like it will take one last shove to get him to actually acknowledge it in a forceful way. I'll just have to try harder with the next part to make that more apparent.

(Cavour's explanation comes almost directly from a book I've been reading, so maybe I misinterpreted it, or the historian mixed things up? I do embellish things in this fic - like the part with the Pope, I have no idea if he would've known at the time about Cavour's plans; but I thought it was at least conceivable, and it was a scene I really wanted to write, so I just went with it.)

Thank you for the feedback, I hope I can do better with the next part!

[jjblue1]

*nods* I know the feeling since I've been dealing in a fic with the same timeline and it's hard as well to match Veneziano with his people or the feelings his people had with Italy (though I've been kind of scared by how some _hated_ Austria...). Only here it feels more like it was south who was try to get rid of Austria from Italy and unite it. Since many in south actually still complain that Sardinia conqueared them and the whole Brigantaggio thing of south was more like partisans who wanted their king back to have Romano so supportive of north while Veneziano is so passive feels weird to say the least (not to say south didn't support north at all just that north wars and south occupation were more a north thing).
Also, Austrian repressions during 1848 were a quite ugly thing and, although Milan was spared by most of it, it was put for many years under special control. Patriots who ended up in prison didn't have a nice stay. It's said Silvio Pellico's book about his permanence in prison damaged Austria more than a battle lost.
It feels rather weird Veneziano is not aware of all of it.

Also, if you don't mind historical talks about my fave period of history...

In the original project of Cavour and Napoleon the Sardinia would get the north plus some bits of the papal state, Napoleon's cousin would marry the daughter of the king of Sardinia and get the center plus a good part of the papal state, Ferdinando II (or if he weren't to agree a new ruler chosen by Napoleon) would keep the south nd the remaining of the papal state. The pope would solely keep Rome and some land around it so basically all the 3 states would get something from the pope's land (this was also why Francesco, son of Ferdinando, later refused this plan. He was a devoted catholic and couldn't conceive to steal the pope's land).
They would give him honorary leadership over the 3 states but both Sardinia and France believed this wouldn't amount to much (Sardinia beleved it would be in control having the richest part of Italy, France believed it would be in control having influence over the biggest part).

The pope had NEVER accepted any shortening of his kingdom. Anyone who tried got an excommunication (Cavour, Vittorio Emanuele, Garibaldi and so on all received one). Pio IX, although started as a liberal, soon backed out of this. Also he declared himself infallible so it's doubtful he would accept Sardinia and France to impose their decisions on him. Then Italy got Rome anyway he forbid catholics to take part to the government, telling them they couldn't even vote (he backed out of this when he realized this was doing more harm than good to his cause).

I think however the pope, although likely not informed of the plans, had an idea about them since everyone got what Cavour and France were trying to do. I seems to remember, due to this, he actually supported Austria instead than France but I should check (actually everyone supported Austria until Austria declared war. It was a tactical mistake but I don't blame Austria. The Sardinia was doing everything to make Austria declare war...).

Cavour wanted a federation of states and never believed in the chance to unite them (he called it a 'corbelleria', a foolish, idiotic thing) until Garibaldi conqueared south. At this point he was forced to accept, to use his own quote, the fact that 'the oranges were already on his table and he couldn't turn them down'.

Among the '1000' of Garibaldi (they weren't exactly 1000... ^_^;) the biggest part weren't Venetian's but Lombards:
Lombards 434
Venetians 194
Ligurians 156
Tuscanians 78
Palermitans 45
Foreigners 35
Piedmonts around 10.
Sicilians (not from Palermo) 26

Part 2 because, like Veneziano, I talk too much... -_-

[jjblue1]

The mezzogiorno actually fought against Garibaldi. Not Sicily who wanted independence (and therefore wanted Garibaldi's aid but not Vittorio Emanuele) and not all of the south army since most of it ended up bribed by Cavour or was liberal (the marine) but many of them fought bravely during the Volturno battle or for the defence of Gaeta and kept fighting even when their king was forced to surrender (the brigantage).

Don't worry anyway, I still think yours is one of the most beautiful fics about the Italies and very well written at that. The characters show their feelings beautifully and you actually did researches over Italian history.
Honestly I too am not sure how the Italies of Hetalia could fit in Italian history (dear God, Veneziano is so fond of Austria when basically Austria had been Italy's enemy number 1... not mentioning north wasn't fond of HRE either... we still celebrate the victory of the battle of Legnano... and southerns are so much more cheerful than Romano is... -_-)

Re: Part 2 because, like Veneziano, I talk too much... -_-

[adesso]

Thank you very much for the input, and I mean that sincerely. I've given it some thought, because I've noticed you're not the only one dissatisfied with this story, and I've decided to take this post down until I can edit the fic to my liking. I was very uncertain about it before, and I really should've just followed my instincts, but ah well. I'll definitely keep this information in mind when I do my rewrite.

Thank you again! :)

Re: Part 2 because, like Veneziano, I talk too much... -_-

[adesso]

Haha nevermind I was having a really horrible day and I took this way too seriously TIME TO STOP BEING DRAMATIC I'll write some nice simple porn later to make up for it.