Contemporary Italy and the Weight of its Myths

Italian history carries the weight of many myths and stereotypes: the glorious ‘Risorgimento’, the ‘Southern Question’, the ‘values of the Resistance’.With the help of recent research we shall look at why and how such myths could become so powerful. The period students will concentrate on goes from the pre-Unification years through Fascism, the two world wars, into the life of the First Republic. The principal aim of this course is for the students to understand the use of historical categories when analysing an ‘historical’ situation. Specifically we shall be looking at the changes of and links between political ideas, political systems and Italian society. 

Teacher: Miriam Grottanelli de Santi