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April 20 - April 27,2003 |
Anti-Italianism in France
A dual between the Italian elite and a middle-class country
By Janet Bellotto
Originally Published: 2003-04-06
The book Anti-Italianism in Sixteenth Century France, by Henry Heller, is an important and revealing investigation of xenophobia against the Italians in France. It brings to question issues of migration and hatred. Do they choose to live in another country because of their belief in its system and their loss of faith in their own government? Do they move with the concepts that there are no borders when thinking about the place called home?
In 16th century France, there was a belief that Italians were not there to serve the king. This strengthened the perception of France's economic and political weakness. Although ethnic antagonism was at the centre of this conflict, it was an important political tool for the French monarchy.
Heller explores the subject from French nationalism and xenophobia to the flight of Italians from France. It is an important timeline related to many cultures in the existence of hate and the scapegoat immigrants become for many political problems. The book begins with the comparison of France's religious civil war in 1562, between the Catholics and Protestants and the hatred of the elite Italians in Lyon. It describes how hatred spread from the wealthy nobles to the labourers, beginning in towns in Southeast France and up into Paris. Beyond economic animosity, there was a growing clash of culture. For example, France claimed a legacy on antiquity and professed that Italians were merely absorbed in the imitation of it. Another situation arose to discredit the basis of Italian culture and that soon it was unnecessary for students to study any intellectual discipline related to the Italians.
As the author continues, we learn the importance of Lyon during 16th century France as a very integral European commercial centre. During this century, exploration was a largely discussed theme, and author Antoine Du Pinet played a predominant role in the dissemination of such information during that century. In his later writings, his Calvinist views become apparent as he discredits any "tastes" being imported from Italy. It becomes clear that the establishment of religion in France was hiding under the rejection of Italian culture.
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