History

History

The proposed research conducts a historical analysis of the phenomenon of dueling and its underlying values. The chosen timeframe spans from the Risorgimento—a period that saw a significant surge in the number of duels in Italy—to the Fascist era, which marked the definitive disappearance of the "affair of honor" (partita d’onore). Specifically, the study will examine the work of two of Italy’s foremost experts on the subject: Jacopo Gelli (1858–1935) and Giorgio Enrico Levi (1849–1936). An analysis of their lives and scholarship, alongside the extensive primary source material they collected, will illuminate one of the most persistent paradoxes in the modern history of dueling: the widespread conviction that while the practice necessitated abolition, the social conditions were not yet mature enough to achieve it.