Timing, Memory and Disaster: Patriotic Narratives in the Aftermath of the Messina–Reggio Calabria Earthquake, 28 December 1908

Abstract

The earthquake that struck both coasts of the Straits of Messina on 28 December 1908 was probably the worst natural disaster in the history of the Italian peninsula. It was followed by an extraordinary movement of public grief and solidarity. These extremely widespread manifestations of patriotism in a country that is frequently thought to ‘lack’ national identity give cause to reflect on the way the notion of national identity is used in the Italian context and beyond. The article looks specifically at some of the contrasting ways in which timing and memory simultaneously became patriotic and controversial issues in the Italian press in the aftermath of the catastrophe. It does so through a sustained dialogue with the most influential thinker on nationalism, time and memory: Benedict Anderson. It emerges from the analysis that different constructions of timing and memory are an indicator of the social and political functions of patriotism, which offers ways to manage crisis situations like the earthquake, but at the same time covertly politicizes them.