Twentieth-century Italy Research Articles

Ideological Contention: Antonio Gramsci and the Connection Between Race and Social Movement Mobilization in Early Twentieth-Century Italy

This article introduces the concept “ideological contention” into the study of social movements and demonstrates the concept through an analysis of the relationship between race and mobilization in modern national contexts. The analysis links the emergence of scientific racism to the period of large nation state consolidation and the development of liberal political ideologies across Western nations. The paper demonstrates that movement struggles within the context of a national ideological framework impact the organization, process of ideological elaboration, and strategic choices a movement makes. I explore how ideology organizes, coordinates, and mobilizes movement members in political processes through a study of Sardinian worker, peasant, and communist struggles in the context of a modernized and industrialized Italy (1917–1920). I argue that reevaluating the theoretical and empirical relationship between ideology and the frame perspective could strengthen analyses of social movement struggles.

Education as a positional good: Implications for social inequalities in educational attainment in Italy

The article examines trends of social inequalities in educational attainment in the second half of the twentieth century in Italy, comparing two approaches. The traditional approach uses years of education as a dependent variable and implicitly looks at the absolute/nominal value of education. The second approach refers to education as a ‘positional good’ and it captures its possibly changing occupational value over time. In this article, following this second perspective, two measures are developed and used: the Educational Competitive Advantage Score (ECAS) measures the value of educational degrees on the basis of their incidence in the population (credential inflation perspective). The second is an effect-proportional scale of education based on the average occupational prestige attained by individuals in each qualification (demand–supply balance perspective). Using data with large sample size from three waves of the Istat Multi-Purpose Survey (1998, 2003 and 2009), the article shows that inequalities based both on social class of origin and parental education declined between 1940 and 1980 birth cohorts, but the effect of parental education reduced less and it is stronger than that of social class in recent cohorts. Considering education as a positional good does not change the main findings obtained using years of education as outcome in the Italian case.

A Hero Without Nostos: Ulysses’ Last Voyage in Twentieth-Century Italy

The article reviews the reception of Ulysses’ last voyage in twentieth-century Italy. Ulysses’ last voyage is used by Italian authors to discuss different and often opposing views of the ideal human life as well as the intellectual and existential angsts of the twentieth century. In addition, the Italian twentieth-century Ulysses becomes part of a metapoetic discourse, as going back to the Homeric and Dantesque myths of Ulysses for an artist also means interrogating oneself on the possibility of creating something new within a long tradition. This metaliterary dimension adds to the modern Italian reception of Ulysses, making it a unique case of the intersection of many different layers of reception both in chronological and thematic terms.

The Great Black Spider on Its Knock-Kneed Tripod. Reflections of Cinema in Early Twentieth-Century Italy

The Great Black Spider on Its Knock-Kneed Tripod. Reflections of Cinema in Early Twentieth-Century Italy

"Un anno sull’Altipiano" di Emilio Lussu. La guerra smitizzata.

Emilio Lussu - antifascist, Socialist, federalist - played an important part in Italian politics, both nationally and in the regional context of Sardinia. But he must also be recognized as an important writer for his long story Il cinghiale del Diavolo, and for his memoirs Marcia su Roma e dintorni and Un anno sull’Altipiano. This last is generally considered the best Italian memoir of the First World War. Quite apart from its specific narrative genre, it is also one of the best narrative works of the early Twentieth Century in Italy. Written between 1936 and 1937 at Clavadel, near Davos in Switzerland, it was published in Paris in 1938. It tells the story of a segment of Lussu’s experiences in the war: one year, as indicated in the title. The thoroughly critical picture of the arrogant behaviour and professional incompetence of the Italian officers, the description of the moments of desperation among the combattants, obliged to kill without hatred, the widespread presence of alcoholism, must not be taken to suggest that the author wished to retract his past interventionist stance. In the important dialogue contained in chapter XXV, the confrontation is between ‘Ottolenghi’, for whom the war in progress is unjustifiable, and ‘The commanding officer of the 10th company’, namely Lussu himself, who by contrast, and in spite of everything, continues to justify it. And it is to be observed that neither of the two positions prevails over the other.

Michael Syrimis, The Great Black Spider on its Knock-kneed Tripod: Reflections of Cinema in Early Twentieth-century Italy

Michael Syrimis, <i>The Great Black Spider on its Knock-kneed Tripod: Reflections of Cinema in Early Twentieth-century Italy</i>

Pagan Rome was Rebuilt in a Play: Roggero Musmeci Ferrari Bravo and the Representation of Rumon

Outside of its national boundaries, studies regarding twentieth-century Italian occultism have been sorely lacking. While the role of occultism and occultists in modern nations such as England, Germany, France and the United States, has been studied in detail, the events and main characters that influenced the esoteric circles in early twentieth-century Italy have been mostly neglected or relegated to very cursory enquiries. It is my intention, in this paper, to focus on the theme of a Pagan new beginning for the newly reunited Italy, first sketching a historical portrayal of the influence the idea of Ancient Rome had on both artists and occultists, then focusing, by utilising recently discovered archival material, on poet and playwright Roggero Musmeci Ferrari Bravo and his tragedy on the birth of Rome, Rumon Sacrae Romae Origines, viewing the play as an attempt to mass-initiate the auience to the alleged palingenetic virtues of Roman traditionalism, in view of a new Italian renaissance.

After Words: Suicide and Authorship in Twentieth-Century Italy

After Words: Suicide and Authorship in Twentieth-Century Italy

The Daily Battles of Antonio De Viti De Marco

This paper analyses the economist Antonio de Viti de Marco’s collaboration with the daily press, in relation to his scientific work and in the context of early twentieth century Italy. It brings out De Viti’s proposals for free trade and fiscal policies intended to support the development of the southern regions of Italy, as well as his critical attitude towards the public sector and its decision making processes. It also highlights his political activities and commitment, an important aspect of his achievement, yet all but unknown outside Italy.

Building the New Man: Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy, by Francesco Cassata

<i>Building the New Man: Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy</i>, by Francesco Cassata

Special issue: The cult of Mussolini in twentieth-century Italy: Introduction

Special issue: The cult of Mussolini in twentieth-century Italy: Introduction

Mercati alimentari dei primi del Novecento: dal Mercado de Abasto Proveedor di Buenos Aires ai Mercati Generali di Torino

Because of the increasing of urban centres, in the second half of the nineteenth century, new buildings are built in order to accommodate selling activities. They are essentially utilitarian architectures, bare of decorations, which show technical and aspects. In recent decades, however, since they no longer fulfill the purpose for which they were originally built, these structures have often been the object of interventions that have revived the use through changes not always respectful of the buildings. In the belief that the actions of reuse should instead be a means through which it is pursued the conservation of this material evidence having civilization value, this report is a contribution to the knowledge of concrete covered market buildings made in the thirties of twentieth century in Italy, as well as in Argentina, critically analyzing reuse interventions recently conducted.

The return of epic formulas in various Italian translations of Kosovka djevojka (The Kosovo maiden)

This paper makes a comparative analysis of the various Italian translations of the famous Serbian popular poem Kosovka djevojka [The Kosovo Maiden] and illustrates the different interpretations and consequent translations of epic formulas in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italy. The Parry-Lord oral formulaic theory, together with other important contributions in the field of oral studies, is a starting point for this analysis, which also takes into consideration the socio-cultural context in which these translations were produced. Translation solutions are therefore brought into relation with the poetics of individual translators and especially with the socio-cultural context of their time. Particular attention is devoted to the centuriesold Italian rhetorical tradition, which influenced even the greatest experts in popular poetry in their interpretation of the figures and clich?s typical of oral production.

Comment on Simone Sarti, 'A Different Perspective to Investigate Social Inequalities : the Relationship between Height and Education in Italy'

This paper comments on Simone Sarti's study of the relationship between height and education in twentieth-century Italy. Sarti used information on the heights of men and women to explore the relationship between social status and years of schooling. The current paper focuses on three key aspects of this work. It begins by exploring the relationship between height and social class, and asks how this might have changed over the course of the period. It then examines Sarti's contribution to our understanding of the anthropometric history of Italy during the twentieth century. The third section discusses the impact of changes in Italian education policy on the question of educational equality. The paper concludes by offering some additional suggestions for further work in this field.

Page Composing and Lettering Games: Experimentation in Italy in the 1930s

The objective of this article is to analyze how or in what ways the most advanced visual experiments centred on &amp;ldquo;the book&amp;rdquo; as an object in the period between 1900 and 1930 in Italy, in particular in relation to the development of middlebrow literature. The article&amp;rsquo;s hypothesis is that the revolution brought about by Futurism soon touched on literature intended for a middlebrow reading public, attracted and interested by the paratextual presentation of the book and its physical aspects. This article focuses in particular on changes in page layout and on lettering games in paratextuality, to give a precise idea of how strong the thrust of Futurism was and how book design affected the visual culture of the beginning of the twentieth century in Italy.

Configuring Alterity: Towards a Third Cinema Approach in Gianni Amelio’s Lamerica

In Lamerica (1994) Gianni Amelio deals with one of the more problematized realities of social change in late twentieth-century Italy: immigration. His cinema of traumatic realism draws on historic and cinematic antecedents, the heritage of Italian neorealism, and on notions associated with Third Cinema conceptualizations. The migratory journey both as narrative construct and historical necessity is a structural framework central to Amelio’s concerns. His ‘heritage and renewal’ ethic allows him to explore the fragility of identity in an ever-changing world, and the temporal and spatial parallels in Lamerica — where the Italy of 1945 doubles as and mirrors the Albania of 1991 — facilitating an exploration of notions of alterity and the altrove. His is a post-modern cinema of restraint articulated in a ‘prosa cinematografica’ resonating through the tropes of Third Cinema. It is a socially committed (re)visionary approach to the crisis and rebirth implicated in immigration and identity.

‘Making the World Weep’? Decapitation/Castration in Puccini’s Turandot

Drawing upon Freudian psychoanalysis, in this article I argue that decapitation in Puccini’s Turandot — that is, the beheading of Turandot’s suitors — functions as an enactment of the male castration complex. As such, it is the site upon which fears of castration on the part of Puccini and the patriarchal society to which he belonged are played out. The opera illuminates the composer’s latent misogyny — a misogyny which permeated a substantial proportion of the national psyche during the early twentieth century in Italy, as well as many men’s attitudes towards women during this period which saw the aftermath of the rise of the movement for female emancipation. I begin by discussing the theme of decapitation in the opera before examining the archetypal suffering heroine in Puccini’s oeuvre. I then focus on a secondary character from the opera, Liù, Puccini’s partial addition to the dramaturgy: Liù is made to suffer for approximately fourteen minutes during the final act, after which, somewhat sadistically, she is made to commit suicide. Following recent work by feminist musicologist Carolyn Abbate and philosopher Adriana Cavarero, I argue that Liù’s ‘undoing’ in the dramaturgy is surpassed by the ‘envoicing’ of the diva — the female performer — singing her role.

Book Review: After Words. Suicide and Authorship in Twentieth-Century Italy

Book Review: After Words. Suicide and Authorship in Twentieth-Century Italy

Political Ideology and Music :Based on Puccini criticism in early Twentieth-Century Italy

Political Ideology and Music :Based on Puccini criticism in early Twentieth-Century Italy

The Development of the Female Scouting Movement: Evidence of Female Emancipation in Italy

At the beginning of the twentieth century the female Scouting movement in Italy had only a few members, because of some traditional preconceptions about character training, open-air activities, sport and affiliation to youth groups as elements having no bearing on girls’ education. During the Second World War and the years after it, Italian women entered a period of ’female self-promotion’. The birth and renewal of Scouting groups became part of female efforts to achieve equality and self-fulfilment. Thus, although the Italian female Scouting movement was brought back to more traditional female models by the Church and moderate conformists, the new progressive stances could not be neglected. Actually, female Scouting education was tied to traditional women's competences, but at the same time girl scouts acquired a new awareness of their rights and role in society, leading them at the end of the 1960s towards a ‘feminist-liberal’ trend. The aim of this study is to analyse how female involvement in the Scouting movement contributed to women's self-fulfilment and to their cultural and political equality in twentieth-century Italy.