Mussolini's Ghost: Italy's Duce in History and Memory

Ventresca, Robert A.

doi:10.1353/ham.2006.0008

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Over 70 years after his death, Mussolini, through the continued circulation of his image, still stirs vivid memories in Italy and abroad. Despite the collapse of Fascism and the disasters of the war, the figure of Mussolini continues to exercise an appeal, and the Duce’s fame goes beyond the cult formed around his person when alive, to the extent that his face, gestures and physical presence are still instantly recognisable (Ventresca 2006, 89). The solidity of his body, his large square jaw, strong neck and shoulders, full lips, piercing eyes and rotund skull, became skilfully framed in photographs as his somatic ‘shorthand’, or what contemporarily we would call his brand (Fig.…”

Section: The Icon Renegotiatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

The iconic body: Mussolini unclothed

Swan

2016

Mod. Italy

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The body partially disrobed as a visual strategy for self-branding is the theme of this article. During Fascism, photography, in synergy with the communications industry ante-literam, was an essential part of the construction of the cult of the leader that transformed the figure of Mussolini into an icon. Mussolini’s partial nudity is considered here as a powerful political tool. The Duce, in anticipation of our celebrities today, did not hesitate to undress and display his torso in what Valerie Sperling calls ‘iconic public-relations stunts’ that were both exhibitionistic and voyeuristic (Sperling 2014, 21). Deconstructing the visual language of Fascist propaganda that made the man into a myth, this article illustrates the most iconic aspects of Mussolini’s visual strategy, demonstrating his innovative capacity to take advantage of a modern attitude towards self-representation, similar to that adopted by today’s heads of state.

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Section: The Icon Renegotiatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

The iconic body: Mussolini unclothed

Swan

2016

Mod. Italy

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“…After all, it is one thing to acknowledge and even criticize the bouts of revision of the mid-1990s, which challenged the so-called 'Fascist/anti-Fascist antithesis' that constituted one of the organizing principles of the postwar era. It is also understandable and acceptable for historians to want to assert in normative terms the morality of the Resistance, when certain forms of historical revisionism emerge to insist on the virtue of the Fascist cause (Ventresca 2006). But bouts of historical revisionism, as disturbing as some arguments may be, are not evidence of a polity 'without history'.…”

Section: Triangle Of Death Blood Of the Vanquishedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Debating the Meaning of Fascism in Contemporary Italy

Ventresca¹

2006

Modern Italy

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This article takes up the question posed by Claudio Pavone—‘Have the Italians truly known how to come to terms with their past?’—and argues that Italians have indeed grappled with their Fascist past, albeit in varied, contradictory, ambiguous and incomplete ways. This article demonstrates the myriad ways in which Italians—historians, politicians, intellectuals, and segments of the general public—have debated the meaning of Fascism since the fall of Mussolini and the end of the Second World War. What follows below argues that selective remembering and wilful forgetting of the Mussolini regime are nevertheless evidence of an ongoing process of confronting the legacy of Italy's recent past.

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“…Since the end of the Cold War, Italian public discourses about the Second World War have undergone radical transformations (Ventresca 2006a;Fogu 2006;Berezin 1996). Works such as Una guerra civile: saggio storico sulla moralita della resistenza (Pavone 1991) …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whose condemned men? Witnessing, suffering and forgetting in post-Cold War Turin

Chiari¹

2009

Journal of Romance Studies

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In recent years increased academic attention has been paid to the Catholic Church and its complicated role in relation to Fascism and the Holocaust in Italy. At the same time the end of the Cold War and the rise of the Right in Italian politics have challenged traditional readings of the Resistance. Within the context of these debates, this article considers a case study from Turin in which a priest's very public witnessing of partisan events has subtly contributed to the creation of a new and heroic myth concerning the Church's role in the Resistance at a time in which Resistance celebration was under threat. The article aims to shed light on the power of public witnessing in consolidating and constructing discourses of heroism and redemption and it focuses particularly on the mechanisms by which these public confessions and commemorations trigger elaborate forms of collective forgetting.

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Mussolini's Ghost: Italy's Duce in History and Memory

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

The iconic body: Mussolini unclothed

The iconic body: Mussolini unclothed

Debating the Meaning of Fascism in Contemporary Italy

Whose condemned men? Witnessing, suffering and forgetting in post-Cold War Turin

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