The Fascist Mentality after Fascism

Dondi, Mirco

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-27245-7_9

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…This re-interprets the fascist period as an unintentional event, for which the Italians have no responsibility since it merely fell out of the sky. All these facts contributed to the creation of a filtered imaginary in which is easier to speak of collective amnesia than collective memory (see Dondi 2001; Malone 2017; Arthus 2010).…”

Section: The Italian Landscape Of Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Questioning what remains: A semiotic approach to studying difficult monuments

Panico¹

2019

Punctum

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In Italy there is a difference between the historical experience of Fascism and what is remembered of it. In many cases, violence and repression have been interpreted as a kind of historical removal. In particular, the lack of the Nuremberg trial, as happened in Germany, allowed the traumatic memories of Mussolini's dictatorship to be banalized and made nostalgic. To understand these defects of Italian cultural memory, it may be useful to look at urban space. If urban space always speaks of something other than itself, then looking at the monumental traces of Fascism still standing in Italy allows to provide answers about the collective amnesia that has transformed Fascism into a parenthesis, as Benedetto Croce said in 1944. The main goal of this article is to investigate the mechanisms of conservation, a practice able to include new enunciations and remove old ones. In particular, through the analysis of some fascist monuments, I address four semiotic strategies of elaboration and cancellation of the past that weaken the sense of monumental representation. Specifically, I investigate the mechanisms of erasure, normalization, narcotization-latency and the construction of polyphonic memories.

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Section: The Italian Landscape Of Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Questioning what remains: A semiotic approach to studying difficult monuments

Panico¹

2019

Punctum

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“…There was a sense that the memory of Fascism was too divisive and best forgotten. Plans to prosecute Fascist crimes and to purge public bureaucracy were soon abandoned on the grounds that they would destabilise the state and hinder the transition to democracy (Roy Domenico 1991; Pavone 1995, 139–146; Dondi 2001, 143–144; Battini 2003, 20–71; Ventresca 2006, 196). To mark the birth of the Italian republic in June 1946, the communist leader and Minister of Justice, Palmiro Togliatti, granted an amnesty to all but the most prominent Fascists as part of a strategy of pacification (Franzinelli 2016).…”

Section: The Limits Of Defascistisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is an extensive literature on the regime’s urban inventions, but relatively little has been written on their lasting impact on Italy’s physical and mental landscapes 2 . Instead of illustrating structural continuity in the law or bureaucracy, architecture offers concrete evidence of cultural continuity (Dondi 2001, 141). It presents an opportunity to tap into a popular memory of Fascism, and to explore Italian mentalities through the spaces of everyday life (Ventresca 2006, 204).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Traces of the Fascist regime are everywhere in Italy in the form of large urban projects, individual buildings, monuments and street names (Figures 1–2). Their enduring presence shows how it was not possible to shake free from the past or, to use Benedetto Croce’s expression, to close the Fascist ‘parenthesis’ as if nothing had happened (Dondi 2001, 144). While Fascist history is evidenced in Italian cities, its position in Italian culture is less obvious in that a ‘collective amnesia’ envelopes some aspects of the Fascist period (Dondi 2001, 150; Petrusewicz 2004; Mammone 2006, 215).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Legacies of Fascism: architecture, heritage and memory in contemporary Italy

Malone

2017

Mod. Italy

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This article examines how Italy has dealt with the physical remains of the Fascist regime, as a window onto Italian attitudes to the past. Theventennioleft indelible marks on Italy’s cities in the form of urban projects, individual buildings, monuments, plaques and street names. In effect, the survival of physical traces contrasts with the hazy memories of Fascism that exist within the Italian collective consciousness. Conspicuous, yet mostly ignored, Italy’s Fascist heritage is hidden in plain sight. However, from the 1990s, buildings associated with the regime have sparked a number of debates regarding the public memory of Fascism. Although these debates present an opportunity to re-examine history, they may also be symptomatic of a crisis in the Italian polity and of attempts to rehabilitate Fascism through historical revisionism.

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Settling Accounts: Retribution, Emotion and Memory during the Fall of Mussolini

Arthurs

2015

Journal of Modern Italian Studies

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The Fascist Mentality after Fascism

Cited by 7 publications

References 1 publication

Questioning what remains: A semiotic approach to studying difficult monuments

Questioning what remains: A semiotic approach to studying difficult monuments

Legacies of Fascism: architecture, heritage and memory in contemporary Italy

Settling Accounts: Retribution, Emotion and Memory during the Fall of Mussolini

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