The Blind Bard and the Unflagging Hierarch: Memories Of War and Self-Representations in Fascist Italy

The aim of this paper is to study two different and conflicting memories of the Great War developed in fascist Italy. In particular, an attempt will be made to focus on the cases of Carlo Delcroix and Roberto Farinacci. They were both born in 1890’s and took part in the war, during which Delcroix was severely mutilated. Alongside the few traits they had in common, many differences divided their political lives. Farinacci soon joined Fascism, became one of the leaders of the radical wing and, in the second half of 1930s, supported the alliance with Nazi Germany. Delcroix, who led one of the most important veterans associations, defined himself in the public debate mainly as a war invalid and by doing so managed to find his own space in the fascist liturgy. As we will try to see, differences and similarities reflected on how they incessantly rethought the Great War. Through an analysis of their books, their public speeches and their participation in the commemorations, the paper tries to describe the connections between memories of the War and political needs. Indeed, not only were there many differences between Farinacci’s memory and that of Delcroix, but also the way in which they respectively recollected events changed over time, according to their relationship with the Regime and Mussolini. Thus, their attitudes toward the official ceremonies became an interesting perspective through which their interaction with the political framework can be studied

Marta Cimino e il Comitato dei lenzuoli. Antimafia, cordoglio e mobilitazione nell'Italia degli anni '90

In 1992, the massacres in which judges Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo and Paolo Borsellino lost their lives, along with the women and men who made up their escorts, caused a shock throughout the country. Also for this reason, 1992 is considered a watershed year, a crucial date for the end of the “First Republic”. This essay reconstructs the history of an entirely new attempt at mobilisation, the Committee of the Sheets, which was born spontaneously immediately after the Capaci massacre on the initiative of Marta Cimino, a former militant of the New Left, the daughter of two militants of the Italian Communist Party. For its short life, the Committee was one of the best known expressions of the anti-Mafia movemen

CO2 Degassing in Sicily (Central Mediterranean) as Inferred from Groundwater Composition

The circulation of groundwater is influenced by several factors, including permeability changes due to the dynamics of the stress field acting along tectonic discontinuities. Open faults can act as preferential pathways for the escape of crustal and subcrustal gases, such as CO2, towards the surface, allowing their chemical interaction with meteoric fluids. Here, we present the first map of dissolved CO2 partial pressure in the groundwater of Sicily, Italy. Based on the chemical analysis of 557 samples of groundwater, which were collected in wells and springs, we calculated the related CO2 partial pressure (PCO2) using PHREEQC software. The spatial distribution of the calculated PCO2 values highlights a general homogeneity at the regional scale, interrupted by positive anomalies linked to the main seismogenic or volcanic areas. Faults work as preferential escape pathways for deep CO2. The subsequent CO2–water–rock interaction determines the chemical composition of circulating water. As a consequence, groundwater composition can be successfully used to identify anomalous degassing areas