Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 January 2016
The Resistance at the root of Italian democracy is still the object of political and often controversial debate, 60 years on. This is related to the various phases of political development in Italy: from the early post-war years, characterized by the conflict associated with the ideological clashes of the Cold War, to the 1960s and 1970s, afflicted by terrorism, to the fall of the Berlin Wall and then to the collapse of the party system. Diverse, sometimes conflicting memories of the Resistance have emerged, linked not only to the numerous forms characterizing the struggle against Nazi–Fascism, but also to the varying motives, ideals and politics which animated fighters on both sides. With the new bipolar political system and the rise of the Right, the Resistance has returned to being one of the most prominent features of political controversy. This manifests itself in editorial strategies and extensive media operations in which memories representing those people who are opposed to the ideals of the Resistance seem to have the upper hand.