Language and power: the 'royal ticket' that changed Sardinia (25 July 1760).

In the heat of July 1760, while Europe was going through great political tensions and Enlightenment turmoil, something crucial but often forgotten happened in Sardinia: on 25 July, a royal note signed by the Minister for Sardinian Affairs, Giovanni Battista Lorenzo Bogino, decreed that Italian was to become the only language that could be used in schools and public institutions on the island. A choice that marked Sardinia's linguistic and cultural identity forever.

Who was Bogino?

Bogino was an energetic, pragmatic Piedmontese minister and a staunch supporter of Savoyard centralism.
His goal was to transform Sardinia into a modern, orderly, efficient territory - and above all, loyal to the Savoy monarchy.
Among his most incisive reforms: censuses, administrative reorganisation, control over the Church, strengthening of agriculture... and an aggressive language policy.

The royal note of 25 July 1760

With this formal act, the minister ordered that all school teaching be conducted exclusively in the Italian language, excluding the use of Catalan, Spanish and Sardinian, which until then had been widely used in school, religious and institutional contexts.

This was clearly a political action: linguistically unifying the island meant making it more controllable, more integrated into the Savoy vision of the Kingdom.

Catalan was still the language of culture and liturgy in many cities (especially in Alghero), while Castilian remained the language of bureaucracy and law. Sardinian, on the other hand, was the language of the people, but without official status. Italian - hitherto perceived as a 'foreign language' - was thus raised to the status of the language of modernity and power.

Local reactions

Reactions to this reform were varied.

Some sectors of the clergy and aristocratic families welcomed Italian, seeing it as a cultured language and vehicle of progress. Others, however, perceived it as a form of cultural imposition, undermining the historical and linguistic autonomy of the island.

The correspondence preserved in the royal archives reveals the unease of some Sardinian bishops, educators and scholars - including members of the Simon family - who demanded more time to adapt seminaries, convents and church schools to the new language. But Bogino was adamant: the change had to be swift, decisive and irreversible.

A language to dominate?

The intent was not only educational, but deeply political.

Imposing Italian meant breaking with the Iberian cultural heritage and strengthening loyalty to the Piedmontese monarchy. Sardinian - in its many variants - was relegated to an inferior language, unworthy of teaching, unsuitable for public administration.

Thus, while mainland Italy was moving towards unity, in Sardinia the loss of a public space for the Sardinian language had already begun - and the effect would be profound and lasting.

A living trace in the Sardinian language

Despite everything, Sardinian popular memory has preserved the name of Bogino. This is still testified to today by a saying, which has become proverbial, used as an ironic curse or a stern warning:

“Ancu ti currat su Buginu”
(May you not be persecuted Bogino!)

An expression that reveals how his actions were experienced as authoritarian, rigid and in many ways painful.
The Piedmontese minister thus entered the history of Sardinia... and even its language, ironically the very one he wanted to marginalise.

Bibliography for further reading

1. Diana, Laura – Lingua e cultura nella Sardegna del Settecento. Il progetto riformatore del ministro Bogino, PhD thesis, University of Cagliari, 2012.
   ↳ Disponibile su: https://tesidottorato.depositolegale.it
2. Contini, Michelangelo – L’italiano in Sardegna: storia e problemi, in 'Proceedings of the International Conference of Sardinian Studies', Sassari, 1982.
3. Atzeni, Gavino – Il catalano in Sardegna e la politica linguistica dei Savoia, in “Rivista Italiana di Dialettologia”, 2007.
4. Mattone, Antonello – Sardegna e Piemonte nel Settecento. Riforme, religione e cultura, Carocci, Roma, 2004.
5. Mereu, Gianfranco – La Sardegna nel Settecento: dalla dominazione spagnola a quella sabauda, in “Archivio Storico Sardo”, Cagliari, 1988.

Sitologia (fonti online consultate)

• Wikipedia – Giovanni Battista Lorenzo Bogino
• Internet Culturale – Biblioteca Digitale Nazionale
• Vistanet.it – Detti popolari: “Ancu ti currat su Buginu”
• Ministero della Cultura – Catalogo Beni Culturali