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The Making of a Nation’s Voice: How Italy Chose Its Language
When Italy became a nation in 1861, a famous statesman declared, “We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.” A crucial part of that project was language, as less than 3% of the population actually spoke what we now call Italian. This is the fascinating story of how a single dialect, championed by the poet Dante and promoted by the modern media, was deliberately forged into the voice of a nation.
