13724 - History of Contemporary Italy (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will have a general knowledge of Italian contemporary history and the main interpretations of it. They will be able to transmit the knowledge acquired, adopting the appropriate vocabulary and being versed in the historiographical debate. They will be familiar with the methodologies used by the research on social classes, and will understand basic mass culture and consumption phenomena. They will be aware how sources and choice of methodology bear on the ultimate result. They will have acquired self-criticism and an ability to learn from mingling with others; they will also know how to choose the learning tools best suited to their own skills and purposes.

Course contents

Historical cesura and Discontinuity between the 1980s and 1990s. Crisis of the First Republic and new gazes on the past

This course provides an overview of the transformations consummated in the history of Italy between the 1980s and 1990s, culminating in the transition between the First and Second Republics.

In the broader context of global transition – marked by the end of the Cold War, the collapse of communism and the structuring of the European Union – Italy is going through a peculiar crisis, marked by phenomena of corruption and the new role of judges, which will lead to the eclipse of the parties that shaped the democratic state in the postwar period. This caesura challenges political traditions, ideologies, and previous value frameworks, but also affects the historical gaze itself, offering a peculiar declination of the cultural turn and memory boom that is emerging in studies internationally.

The aim is to contextualize and subject to critical analysis the new Italian historical sensibility – which reflects the transformations taking place, interacts with the political context and assumes a specific prominence in the national public debate of the 1990s – highlighting its discontinuities and specificities.

Readings/Bibliography

For attending students, the examination will focus on:

Guido Crainz, Storia della Repubblica. L'Italia dalla liberazione ad oggi, Donzelli, 2016

+ 1 readings chosen from A list

+ 1 readings chosen from B list

Alternatively, attending students may submit a written paper (min. 30,000 - max. 40,000 characters) of in-depth analytical study on one of the following topics: Resistance and World War II, fascism, colonialism/racism, continuity of legal cultures. The paper should present a comparison of different historiographical interpretations offered by historical studies in the 1990s and in earlier and/or later eras. Selected studies and authors should be submitted to the professor, presented in class, and discussed during the exam. More guidance will be provided during the first week of class.

For non-attending students the examination will focus on:

• G. Crainz, Storia della Repubblica. L'Italia dalla liberazione ad oggi, Donzelli, 2016
• C. Pavone, Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità nella Resistenza, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri 1991

+1 reading chosen from B list

 

Erasmus students may use the following alternative program:

Anna Cento Bull, Modern Italy: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2016

+ 2 volume to choose from:

• C. Pavone, A Civil War. A History of the Italian Resistance, Verso, 2013
• C.S. Capogreco, Mussolini’s Camps. Civilian Internment in Fascist Italy 1940–1943, Routledge, 2019
• Fascist Warfare, 1922–1945. Aggression, Occupation, Annihilation, a cura di M. Alonso, A. Kramer, J. Rodrigo, Palgrave 2019
  
• Rethinking the History of Italian Fascism, edited by G. Albanese, Routledge 2022
• J. Foot, Blood and Power. The Rise and Fall of Italian Fascism, Bloomsbury 2022

 

Lista A

• P. Ginsborg, Storia d’Italia dal dopoguerra ad oggi, Einaudi 1989 (A history of Contemproary Italy, Society and Politics, 1943-1988, Penguin 1990)

• C. Pavone, Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità nella Resistenza, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri 1991 (C. Pavone, A Civil War. A History of the Italian Resistance, Verso, 2013)

• A. Del Boca, L'Africa nella coscienza degli italiani. Miti, memorie, errori, sconfitte, Laterza, 1992

• P. Scoppola, La repubblica dei partiti. Evoluzione e crisi di un sistema politico 1945-1996, il Mulino 1997 (ed.or. La Repubblica dei partiti, Profilo storico della democrazia in Italia, 1945-1990, 1991)

• G.E. Rusconi, Se cessiamo di essere una nazione. Tra etnodemocrazie regionali e cittadinanza europea, Il mulino 1993

• E. Galli della Loggia, La morte della patria. La crisi dell'idea di nazione tra Resistenza, antifascismo e Repubblica, Laterza 1996 (ed. or. 1994)

• R. De Felice, Rosso e nero, a cura di Pasquale Chessa, Baldini & Castoldi, 1995

• Storia dell’Italia Repubblicana, a cura di F. Barbagallo, Einaudi

- L. Mangoni, Civiltà della crisi. gli intellettuali tra fascismo e antifascismo, vol. I, 1994, pp. 617-718

- G. Neppi Modona, La magistratura dalla liberazione agli anni Cinquanta. Il difficile cammino verso l’indipendenza, vol. III, tomo 2, 1997, pp. 83-137

• Le memorie della Repubblica, a cura di Leonardo Paggi, Scandicci, La nuova Italia, 1999

Lista B

• F. Focardi, La guerra della memoria. La Resistenza nel dibattito politico italiano dal 1945 a oggi, Laterza 2005

• L'Europa e le sue memorie. Politiche e culture del ricordo dopo il 1989, a cura di F. Focardi e B. Groppo, Viella 2013

• M. Consonni, L'eclisse dell'antifascismo: resistenza, questione ebraica e cultura politica in Italia dal 1943 al 1989, Laterza 2015

• Quel che resta dell'impero. La cultura coloniale degli italiani, a cura di V, Deplano, A. Pes, Mimesis, 2014

• E. Bruti Liberati, Magistratura e società nell’Italia repubblicana, Laterza 2018

• Il fascismo italiano. Storia e interpretazioni, a cura di Giulia Albanese, Carocci, 2021

 

Teaching methods

The course will alternate frontal lessons with moments of discussion with students and analysis of sources. In order to stimulate a dynamic debate and active participation, students will be invited to prepare speeches on specific topics.

Assessment methods

Verification of learning will take place through oral examination.

Contribute to the final grade:

• Mastery of subject content
• Ability to deal with the required topics in a cross-cutting and critical way
• Correctness, clarity, synthesis and fluency of expression
• Appropriate use of the specific language of the discipline, themes and authors
• Capacity of autonomous and personal re-elaboration of contents

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the subject and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.

Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the subject and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology

 

Teaching tools

Written, literary, iconographic, and video sources as a starting point for presentation of topics and for discussion with students.

Office hours

See the website of Toni Rovatti