The "Society of Turin": a Jacobin conspiracy at the dawn of Italian Regeneration (1790-1794)

The regicide conspiracy of the Kingdom of Sardinia foiled in 1794 constitutes still today an obscure experience in the history of Italian Jacobinism. Yet it was the first revolutionary experience for many Piedmontese patriots working during and after the Triennio. Compared to nineteenth and twentieth-century monarchical historiography, a methodologically updated approach and comparison of institutional and memorial sources reveals the genesis of a revolutionary avant-garde characterized by clear social characteristics and an early, self-conscious political activity. Pushed by the ambition for radical reformation of the Savoy State and forced into secrecy by the government's repression, this group came to a democratic political solution following the example of French Republic early years, claiming at the same time full autonomy of its revolutionary path.