Constitución y federación sin estado. El modelo constitucional gaditano en el Risorgimento italiano

This essay examines the impact of the 1812 Spanish Constitution on the Italian peninsula during the 1820s. It proposes further explanations, in addition to the classic vision that considers Spanish liberalism as an example that was able to unite the struggle for independence from a foreign power with the fight for political freedom with respect to absolutism. Focusing on recent interpretations of the Spanish Constitution, the essay points to aspects that could have been more appealing in the Italian context, where intellectuals and politicians debated the form that the new nation —more than the new State— should take. It contends that the Atlantic dimension of the 1812 Constitution is essential to clarify some elements concerning its adoption and adaptation in Piedmont and Two Sicilies in 1820-1821.