Crimes pittoresques : la construction culturelle du brigand italien dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle

This article examines the cultural construction of the Italian brigand, a prominent figure in the social imagination of 19th century Europe. The main objective is to establish a connection between the cultural representations of the brigands and the romantic discourse on the « mysteries » of the criminal classes. The article aims to analyse the processes of identification, mediatisation, politicisation and criminalisation linked to brigands and the phenomenon of brigandage. The article offers a contribution to the study of the complex mixture of literary production, criminological discourse and political conflict, which seems to be the privileged instrument for defining the changing representations of this social type.