“Dolce vita” and Italian Anxieties (Social Chaos, Emigration, Revolution) between the 1910s and early 20s

Abstract

Lawrence’s travel book, Twilight in Italy offers a good introduction to life in Italy before WW1. That is when, for the first time abroad, he and Frieda stayed in Gargnano by Lake Garda, (3rd September 1912 - 11th April 1913). Observing people there excited Lawrence’s interest in national character both in comparison with other Europeans and southern Italians. Lawrence had a particular instinct for perceiving the mood of Italy and its people as they were experiencing a major economic crisis which was soon to lead to the political unrest and the social turmoil of the “biennio rosso” (1919-1920). Indeed, there was a growing conviction on the part of the Italian working class that a socialist revolution was inevitable. However, in March 1919 Mussolini launched his Fascist movement and, in the autumn of 1920, his Fascist squads began their punitive expeditions resulting in an absolute social chaos. A number of Lawrence’s writings reflect his disillusion with post-war Italy. He did not miss the frustration that people showed, following the “unfair” treatment Italy received in the Versailles Treaty (1919). The emigration issue emerges too when the chauffeur of the bus he and Frieda are travelling on begs him to find him a job as a driver in England. Lawrence thinks then that emigrating had become some sort of disease, “Andare fuori dall’Italia. To go out of Italy. To go out-away—to go away—to go away. It has become a craving, a neurasthenia with them.” (“Sea and Sardinia”).