The dispute about the political use of the Italian Risorgimento: from the advent of fascism to the emergence of the republic

Abstract

In this article, we will analyze the dispute over the political use of risorgimento between fascist and anti-fascist intellectuals from the march on Rome in 1922 to the advent of the Republic, passing through the crucial years of the Resistenza. First, we will examine the two main and contrasting souls of the risorgimento myth: the Savoyard monarchist and the Mazzinian republican. Secondly, we will describe the struggle within fascism between the traditionalist current and the modernists, as well as between the conservatives and the revolutionaries, to impose their own version. And, thirdly, we will try to specify the ideological position of the characters and political movements of the heterogeneous anti-fascist front. Furthermore, we will stop at Benedetto Croce's concept of pre-fascist liberal restoration; We will explain the shareholder story of the Resistance as a second risorgimento; and we will analyze the ideological annexation that the Italian Communist Party made of the figure of Garibaldi.