The thesis is about the representation of the rebel crowds in the Italian literature in the 19th century. We consider the contributions of social sciences, from Le Bon to the lombrosian school of Scipio Sighele and Pasquale Rossi, as well as Freud, until some more contemporary sociologists, like Reich, Ortega y Gasset, Canetti, Allport, Turner etc; but the research focuses on the novels and the short stories, which are conceived in Italie, when the fight for the national unity tries, without success, to transform the political revolution in a national revolution, according to the expression of Nievo. Manzoni standardizes de model of the representation of the rebel crowds, which will be followed by Nievo, with some important variations. Therefore, the influence of Zola adds to the Manzoni's one. It will dominate, on the one hand, the idea of a rational crowd, that is a potential revolutionary subject (the , scapigliati, Valera, De Amicis, etc), on the other hand the one of the pessimism and of the predetermined destiny of the masses (Verga). Finally, Gabriele D'Annunzio, in his novels and short stories, fluctuates between the fascination for the savage side of the crowds and his aristocratic contempt.
