Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:44:46.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Making Italians out of rocks: Mussolini's shadows on Italian mountains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this article I use the case of mountains to explore the ways in which the Fascist regime articulated its vision of nature/human relationships. I will show how mountains were considered as creative environments which could produce a special type of people: the montanari (mountaineers), meaning with this word mountain villagers rather than mountain climbers. The Fascist regime praised people from the mountains – especially from the Alps - as the true and better stock of Italians; that environment made them strong, healthy, pure, and disciplined, as the rhetoric of the Great War had supported. The Fascist regime celebrated the virtues of montanari by birth, those who were born and raised in the mountains, but it also aimed at employing the creative power of nature in its plan to shape the new Italian. In the article I show how the regime employed mountains in its discourses and practices of ‘bonifica umana’ (human reclamation) which involved both body and soul. In the Fascist narratives, mountains were the open air gymnasium for building a stronger man, a living archive of ruralism for reproducing the true Italian, and the secular church of the collective memory for the making of national subjects. The blend of nature, culture, and politics in the Fascist discourse on mountains and people is at the core of this article.

Keywords

mountainsFascismruralismsportnationalism
Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 19 , Issue 3: Fascism and nature , August 2014 , pp. 261 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamson, Walter L. 1995. “The Culture of Italian Fascism and Fascist Crisis of Modernity: The Case of Il Selvaggio.” Journal of Contemporary History 30(4):555–575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambrosi, Claudio, and Weber, Wolfgang, eds. 2004. “Sport e fascism.” Special issue of Geschichte und Region/storia e regione 13(1).Google Scholar
Armiero, Marco. 2010. “Nationalizing the Mountains. Natural and Political Landscapes in World War I.” In Nature and History in Modern Italy, edited by Armiero, Marco and Hall, Marcus, 298–323. Athens: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Armiero, Marco. 2011. A Rugged Nation: Mountains and the Making of Modern Italy. Cambridge: White Horse Press.Google Scholar
Armiero, Marco, and von Hardenberg, Wilko Graf. 2013. “Green Rhetoric in Blackshirts: Italian Fascism and the Environment.” Environment and History 19:283–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben Ghiat, Ruth. Fascist Modernity. Italy 1922–1945. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bevilacqua, Piero. 2001. “Ruralismo.” In Dizionario del fascismo. Turin: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Binde, Per. 1999. “Nature versus City: Landscapes of Italian Fascism.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 17:761–775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosworth, Richard J. 1997. “The Touring Club Italiano and the Nationalization of the Italian Bourgeoisie.” European History Quarterly 27(3):371–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canestrai, Renato. 1938. “Folle di giovani alla conquista dei monti e delle selve.” Il bosco 2:3.Google Scholar
Caprotti, Federico. 2007. Mussolini's Cities: Internal Colonialism in Italy, 1930–1939. Youngstown, NY: Cambria Press.Google Scholar
Caprotti, Federico. 2008. “Internal Colonisation, Hegemony and Coercion: Investigating Migration to Southern Lazio, Italy, in the 1930s.” Geoforum 39(2):942–957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caprotti, Federico, and Kaïka, Maria. 2008. “Producing the Ideal Fascist Landscape: Nature, Materiality and the Cinematic Representation of Land Reclamation in the Pontine Marshes.” Social and Cultural Geography 9(6):613–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casamorata, Cesare. 1927. “Alla vetta d'Italia.” Le vie d'italia 5:554–562.Google Scholar
Cassata, Francesco. 2011. Building the New Man: Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy. Budapest: Central European University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronon, William. 1995. “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature.” In Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, edited by Cronon, William, 69–90. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
De Grazia, Victoria. 1981. The Culture of Consent: Mass Organization of Leisure in Fascist Italy. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dell'Era, Tommaso. 2007. “Scienza, politica e propaganda. Il Manifesto del razzismo italiano:storiografia e nuovi documenti.” Rivista elettronica della Società Italiana di Filosofia Politica, December. http://eprints.sifp.it/25/ (accessed June 2, 2014).Google Scholar
De Felice, Renzo. 1973. Il problema dell'Alto Adige nei rapporti italo–tedeschi dall'Anschluss alla fine della seconda guerra mondiale. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
De Luca, Gaetano. 1935. “L'alpinismo e il club alpino alla mostra nazionale dello sport.” Rivista mensile del CAI 10:542.Google Scholar
Dogliani, Patrizia. 2008. Il fascismo degli italiani. Una storia sociale. Turin: UTET.Google Scholar
Gaifas, Enrico Jr. 1937. “I littoriali della neve e del ghiaccio.” Rivista mensile del CAI 56:122–123.Google Scholar
Gaspari, Oscar. 1994. l segretariato per la montagna (1919–1965). Rome: Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri – dipartimento per l'informazione e l'editoria.Google Scholar
Gentile, Emilio. 2003. The Struggle for Modernity: Nationalism, Futurism, and Fascism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing.Google Scholar
Gibelli, Antonio. 1998. La grande guerra degli italiani. Milan: RCS libri.Google Scholar
Gillette, Aaron. 2002. Racial Theories in Fascist Italy. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gortani, Michele, and Pittoni, Giacomo. 1938. “Montagna friulana.” In Lo spopolamento montano in Italia. Le Alpi venete, 295–563. Rome: Tip. Failli.Google Scholar
Isnenghi, Mario. 1991. “Il ruralismo nella cultura italiana.” In Storia dell'agricoltura italiana in età contemporanea, vol. 3, edited by Bevilacqua, Piero, 877–910. Venice: Marsilio.Google Scholar
Manaresi, Angelo. 1934. “Medaglia la valore agli alpinisti italiani.” Rivista mensile del CAI 1:1–2.Google Scholar
Manaresi, Angelo. 1934. “Scuola fascista d'alpinismo guerriero fra alti monti sabaudi.” Rivista mensile del CAI 3:109–110.Google Scholar
Manaresi, Angelo. 1936. “Alpinismo guerriero.” Rivista mensile del CAI 5:201.Google Scholar
Manaresi, Angelo. 1937. “Mussolini sciatore.” Rivista mensile del CAI 56:91.Google Scholar
Manaresi, Angelo. 1938a. “Fascino bianco.” Rivista mensile del CAI 57:189.Google Scholar
Manaresi, Angelo. 1938b. “Universitari all'assalto dei monti. Il rostro d'oro.” Rivista mensile del CAI 57:77–78.Google Scholar
Manaresi, Angelo. 1939. “Presentazione.” In Manuale della montagna, xiii–xvi. Rome: Ulpiano.Google Scholar
Manaresi, Angelo. 1939–40. “Alpini e alpinisti.” Rivista Mensile del CAI 59:413–414.Google Scholar
Marro, Giovanni. 1940. Primato della razza italiana. Milan: Casa editrice Giuseppe Principato.Google Scholar
Monterin, Umberto. 1932. “Media e bassa valle d'Aosta. Valle di Champorcher e valle di Challant.” In Lo spopolamento montano in Italia. Le Alpi liguri-piemontesi, a cura di INEA, 219–320. Milan: Treves-Treccani-Tuminelli.Google Scholar
Moore, Barrington. 1974 [1966]. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin University Books.Google Scholar
Mosse, George L. 1990. Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Motta, Giuseppe. 2006. Le minoranze nel XX secolo. Milan: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
Novello, Elisabetta. 2003. La bonifica in Italia. Legislazione, credito e lotta alla malaria dall'unità al fascismo. Milan: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
Pastore, Alessandro. 2003. Alpinismo e storia d'Italia. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Pavari, Aldo. 1930. “Genesi e sviluppo della bonifica in Italia.” Le vie d'Italia 8:561–573.Google Scholar
Pearson, Chris. 2008. Scarred Landscapes: War and Nature in Vichy France. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piccioni, Luigi. 2010. “Nature Preservation and Protection in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Italy, 1880–1950.” In Nature and History in Modern Italy, edited by Armiero, Marco and Hall, Marcus, 251–267. Athens: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Pittoni, Giacomo. 1938. “Montagna vicentina.” In Lo spopolamento montano in Italia. Alpi Venete, edited by INEA, 73–179. Rome: Tip. Failli, Roma.Google Scholar
Pivato, Stefano. 2006. Il Touring club italiano. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Pocar, Ervinio. 1926. “La vita del nostro campeggio in Val Malenco.” Le vie d'Italia 10:1074–1080.Google Scholar
Pompei, Manlio. 1936. “Scuola di ruralità.” La conquista della terra 11:411–418.Google Scholar
Redondi, Antonio, ed. 2012. Un best-seller per l'Italia unita. Il Bel Paese di Antonio Stoppani. Milan: Guerini.Google Scholar
Remondino, Carlo. 1935. “Fascismo e montagna.” In La montagna italiana: scritti sul problema montano, 52–53. Turin: V.M. Briscioli.Google Scholar
Robbins, Paul. 2003. “Networks and Knowledge Systems: An Alternative to ‘Race or Place’.” Antipode 35(4):818–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, James. 2009. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Serpieri, Arrigo. 1929. “Il problema montano e forestale al parlamento.” Alpe 8:347.Google Scholar
Serpieri, Arrigo. 1931. “Introduzione.” In Mussolini, Benito, L'agricoltura e i rurali, 11–50. Roma: tipografia del littorio.Google Scholar
Serpieri, Arrigo. 1932. “Discorso al congresso della montagna a Sondrio (13–14 december 1931 per iniziativa dei sindacati fascista dell'agricoltura).” Alpe 1:3–7.Google Scholar
Snowden, Frank M. 2006. The Conquest of Malaria. Italy, 1900–1962. New Haven: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spackman, Barbara. 1996. Fascist Virilities: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Social Fantasy in Italy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Stampacchia, Mauro. 2000. Ruralizzare l'Italia! Agricolture e bonifiche tra Mussolini e Serpieri (1928–1943). Milan: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
Tedeschi, Mario. 1927. “Perché il Touring ha organizzato l'escursione alle Dolomiti.” Le vie d'Italia 9:878–881.Google Scholar
Toscano, Mario. 1975. Alto Adige, South Tyrol: Italy's Frontier with the German World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Unknown. 1934. “Saluto, dai monti, al duce!” Rivista del Cai 53:570–580.Google Scholar
Unknown. 1937. “La milizia forestale alla 1 mostra agricola provinciale in Cosenza.” Alpe 10:385–386.Google Scholar
Unknown. 1938. “La razza e la montagna.” Il bosco 1938:14.Google Scholar
White, Richard. 1995. “Are You an Environmentalist or Do You Work for a Living? Work and Nature.” In Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, edited by Cronon, William, 171–185. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Whited, Tamara. 2000. Forests and Peasant Politics in Modern France. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Zavattari, Eduardo. 1938. “Ambiente naturale e caratteri biopsichici della razza italiana.” La Difesa della Razza 1:20–21.Google Scholar