Ricordando la "discesa in campo". Cenni sull'uso politico della storia nell'Italia del Cavaliere (1994-1996)

Abstract

Italian historiography has been debating about the historian’s task and about the public and political use of history in Italy for over twenty years. The emergence of political parties with no solid political tradition - such as Forza Italia - has made the manipulation of history necessary in order to reinvent a past and/or a cultural tradition. This study focuses on the years 1994-1996, a particularly eventful period: Silvio Berlusconi’s entering the field, the creation of the new political party, Berlusconi’s re-reading of the history of Italy before his political engagement as if it were the time of communist rule and cultural hegemony.