From the Holy Office to Napoleon: Misfortunes and Ambitions of the Roman Consul Federico Zaccaleoni

Abstract

The article examines the growing centrality of certification practices and mobility control in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era, highlighting their strong politicization. Through the case of Federico Zaccaleoni, consul of the Roman Republic, it shows how personal merits and misfortunes became instruments of political and administrative legitimation. His biography illustrates the ambiguities of a system in which persecution and ideological loyalty constituted political capital. It thus outlines the profile of a patriot whose career was both enabled and constrained by experiences of repression and institutional instability.