nazione

Nazione is a term used to denote a large community of people who share a common identity, typically based on language, culture, history, and often territory, and that may also aspire to political organization. In Italian usage, the word can refer to the concept of a nation or to the people who constitute it, distinct from the legal entity known as the Stato.

Etymology and development: the word derives from Latin natio, meaning birth or origin, and entered Romance languages with the sense of a group formed by shared origins. The modern political sense of nazione emerged in Europe during the early modern period and grew substantially in the 18th and 19th centuries with Romantic nationalism, which linked language, culture, and history to political aspirations.

Usage and distinctions: nazione can describe both a culturally defined community and a political-legal unit. It is different from Stato (the sovereign political entity) and from Popolo (the people) in that nazione emphasizes shared identity, culture, or common fate, rather than jurisdiction alone. In some contexts, nazione can be used to speak of a people who claim national self-determination, even if they do not possess a fully independent state.

Historical and contemporary context: the concept was central to the Italian Risorgimento, where the idea of a unified Italian nation supported unification efforts. In modern discourse, nazione may refer to the imagined community of a people, to citizenship and national rights, or to multicultural and multinational states, where multiple nations may inhabit a single state or one nation may span several states.

See also: nation, nationalism, patriotism, state, sovereignty, ethnicity.