Lorenzo Del Boca – journalist and writer

Author of Polentoni says north of Italy was betrayed by the Risorgimento

Lorenzo Del Boca had a long career working as
a journalist for the Turin-based daily La Stampa

The author Lorenzo Del Boca, whose books and essays about Italian history and politics have been translated into several languages, was born on this day in 1951 in Romagnano Sesia in the province of Novara in Piedmont.

Del Boca has become known outside Italy following the publication of his book Polentoni in 2011, which puts forward his opinions about how and why the north of the country was betrayed by the unification of Italy in 1861.

But he refutes the idea that Polentoni is in any way a riposte to the book Terroni, published in 2010 by the author and journalist Pino Aprile, who is from Puglia in the south of Italy and expresses the opinion that the south was betrayed by the north as a result of the Risorgimento. 

Del Boca points out on the back cover of Polentoni that in the 1990s he had already written two books that have been interpreted as ‘irreverent’ about the wealthy Savoy family.  The first King of the united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II, was a descendant of the family, as were all the monarchs who succeeded him. Del Boca also says that he has been quoted extensively by Aprile as a bibliographic reference. 

Polentoni argues that Risorgimento was
a betrayal of the north as well as the south

The title of his book, Polentoni, is an offensive term sometimes used by people in southern Italy to describe northern Italians. It alludes to the northern Italian habit of eating polenta, which is a type of yellow or white ground cornmeal that can be served creamy, as a slice from a loaf of polenta, or fried.

After graduating in Philosophy from the University of Turin, Del Boca was involved for a time with local newspapers before going to work for La Stampa, the sixth most widely distributed Italian daily newspaper, which is based in Turin.

He became a professional journalist in 1980, working first as a court reporter and then as chief reporter at Stampa Sera. He went on to become a special correspondent at La Stampa, writing mainly about events connected with terrorism.

Del Boca has also specialised in writing about pseudo-history, about information that claims to be history, but is often based on theories that have been formed, which fall outside the rules and conventions followed by historians. 

His writing about the House of Savoy is characterised by a lack of reverence towards the famous family and he uses as sources articles and publications that do not accept the traditional version of the history of the Risorgimento.

He argues that while the south was ‘stripped, robbed and massacred’,  the Risorgimento was a shameful period in history in which there were no winners among ordinary Italians, with many northern people persuaded to fight and even die for the cause with a promise of better lives that was never delivered.

Other scholars and historians have criticised some of Del Boca’s ideas. but he has also received many awards for his writing.

Del Boca was president of the National Council of the Order of Journalists from 2001 to 2010, and was the first president to have been elected for a third consecutive term to be the head of the collective body that represents professional journalists in Italy.  

The Castello del Valentino is one of Turin's
historic former residences of the Savoy family

Travel tip:

Lorenzo Del Boca was born in Piedmont, which is the second largest region of Italy after Sicily. Piedmont, in the northwest of Italy, borders France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Val d’Aosta, and a small part of Emilia-Romagna. The territory was first acquired by Otto of Savoy in 1046 and its capital was established at Chambery, which is now in France. The Savoy territory became the Duchy of Savoy in 1416 and the seat of the Duchy was moved to Turin in 1563 by Duke Emanuele Filiberto. After Victor Amadeus II became King of Sardinia in 1720, Piedmont became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Turin grew in importance as a European capital city. Victor Emmanuel II was already the King of Sardinia-Piedmont before he was crowned King of the newly united Italy.  Much of the architecture of Turin illustrates its rich history as the home of the Savoy Kings of Italy. In the centre of the city, Piazza Castello, with the royal palace, royal library, and Palazzo Madama, which used to be where the Italian senate met, showcases some of the finest buildings in ‘royal’ Turin. Other notable cities in Piedmont - Piemonte in Italian - include Novara, Alessandria and Asti. With a population of just over 850,000, Turin is the fourth largest city in Italy, after Rome, Milan and Naples.

The Torre del Pretorio
dates back to the 1400s

Travel tip:

Romagnano Sesia, the town and municipality where Lorenzo del Boca was born, is in the province of Novara in Piedmont. It is located about 80km (50 miles) northeast of Turin and about 25km (16 miles) northwest of Novara. Visitors to Romagnano are attracted by the Church of San Silvano and Abbazia di San Silvano, which form a complex is notable for its historical and artistic significance, including a 5th-century Paleochristian sarcophagus, the 15th century tower Torre del Pretorio, the Piazza Libertà, the town’s central square surrounded by arcades, and the remains of a medieval bridge that once spanned the Sesia river before it was diverted to protect the town from its force.  Romagnano stages a Good Friday procession, known as the Sacred Representation, which began in 1729 and has evolved into a large-scale theatrical performance. It involves more than 300 actors often drawn from the community, who dress in period costumes to recreate the scenes of Jerusalem.

Also on this day:

1859: The Battle of Solferino

1866: The Battle of Custoza

1940: The birth of cinematographer Vittorio Storaro

1963: The birth of architect Benedetta Tagliabue

1993: The birth of tenor Piero Barone, a singer with Il Volo

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