Introduction

Opening with an account of the 1878 murder in Rome that gave rise to the trial on which the book is based, the introduction presents the key figures of a local emotional drama replayed on a national stage. It contextualizes these figures’ stories within Italy’s recent history, and outlines their geographical origins in the newly unified peninsula. Viewing the episodes of social life revealed by the criminal investigation through an emotions-history lens, the introduction surveys the analytical tools currently available for historians of emotion—such as regimes, communities, and practices—then proposes a new paradigm that conveys a stronger sense of boundaries and human scale: the ‘emotional arena’. These are the social spaces that can be seen to have influence over both the experience and expression of emotions—whether bedrooms, theatres and churches, or legal courtrooms. The introduction then lays out the book’s structure, outlining the way each subsequent chapter explores an example of such an emotional arena. These are the marital home, a nomadic circus based on an extended family, the imaginary arenas created by writers of secret love letters, arenas of grief and mourning, forensic investigations of death, plans for a murder, and finally, the courtroom in Rome where the story culminated.