Berkley Center

When one thinks of March 17, one’s mind probably thinks of green, shamrocks, and corn beef and cabbage. While Italy does not revel in the festivities associated with the observance of St. Patrick’s Day, the date has its own significance to the peninsula: on March 17, 1861, Italy became a unified country.

Considering the peninsula’s rich history with the Holy Roman Empire, the Renaissance, and the Roman Catholic Church, one might be surprised when learning that Italy only marked its one hundred and fiftieth birthday this year. Though some scholars refer to the United States as a young country, its birth came in 1776, more than 90 years before Italy’s. At the same time as the Mediterranean nation’s unification, America was already 85 years and on the brink of civil war.

Spurned by ongoing conflicts between city-states and nobility, unification for Italy was a gradual and difficult process. While such divisions subsided shortly to allow the peninsula to become unified, Italy has always been troubled by its difficulty to cultivate a national identity.

Throughout the past and through the present, Italy has been a nation of division. Once a devout religious nation, Italy no longer can claim Roman Catholicism as its official religion. Though Dante made famous the traditional Italian language, variations in grammar and vocabulary have emerged to create new dialects of the Italian that differ greatly from the Renaissance writer’s prose. Even the food is distinct from one city to another. Such diversity within the cultures challenges the idea of a single definition for what it means to be Italian.

The problem for some Italians is the various factors they believe contribute to their identity. Though their nation of birth reads Italy, many affirm closer ties to the region or city in which they live. My host mother’s 18 year old grandson, for example, does not identify himself as an Italian, but rather as a Florentine. For him and many of his friends, there is no national collective feeling that exists among the people.

Today, there are an increasing number of people who hesitate to support the notion of a unified nation. Despite the festive music, waving flags, and red, white, and green fireworks on March 17, they believe that the celebrations promote a false sense of unity that does not exist in Italy. In their opinions, religious, political, and economic divisions reflect a country that is far from unified. Groups such as the Northern League, a right-wing political party that denounces the poorer south, and the political division amongst opinions about Prime Minister Berlusconi are just two examples contributing to discord in Italy.

The peninsula’s identity crisis is particularly interesting because it parallels the European Union’s struggle to create a unifying identity for its transnational body. In Europe, citizens are like soccer fans, consistently adapting their identities depending on which teams take to the field. During an afternoon match, one might support the team from Milan, but then the next week identify oneself as a fan for Italy during the World Cup. The allegiances to different soccer teams convey the concentric circles of identity for citizens: city, region, nation, and continent.

The challenge for the European Union is that while it strives to create its own definition of what it means to be an EU citizens, its member states are simultaneously struggling with a similar dilemma about national identity. Fears of encroachment and intense feelings of patriotism among the citizens towards their city or region threaten the notion of national and continental integration. Unity is not something that can be imposed, but only encouraged. So while the tricolored flag waves proudly on March 17, the real test for citizens is to decide which flag to wave the other 364 days of the year.