Latinità, modernità e fascismo nei dibattiti artistici degli anni Venti

Il saggio analizza alcuni esempi delle forme assunte dal dibattito sul rapporto fascismo-latinità nei dibattiti artistici degli anni Venti, con particolare riferimento alle interpretazioni del rapporto classicità-modernità in ambito post-avanguardistico e in relazione alla creazione di una cultura di regime. Riconducendo le radici del richiamo al classico ai dibattiti artistici degli inizi del Novecento e analizzando gli scritti critici di artisti e intellettuali, quali Ardengo Soffici e Margherita Sarfatti, nonché i contributi al dibattito sull’arte fascista promosso da Bottai sulle pagine di Critica fascista fra il 1926 e il 1927, ci si propone di analizzare il percorso ideologico dei concetti di « classicismo », « classicità », « latinità », « mediterraneità » e la loro politicizzazione all’interno della cultura fascista, fra identità, nazione e ideologia. Il dibattito su latinità e fascismo nelle arti fugurative in ambito post-avanguardistico e modernista viene interpretato come portavoce di un senso del classico che va al di là delle definizioni formali del termine: la latinità viene usata come categoria identitaria nella ricerca di un’essenza artistica nazionale capace di creare un collegamento ideale fra tradizione e modernità. In tale senso, il concetto di classicità, riproposto come latinità e mediterraneità, viene utilizzato per creare un legame inscindibile fra tradizione artistica e nazione, ponendo le basi ideologiche del rapporto fra arte e regime.The article focuses on some examples of the relationship between Fascism and latinità in the artistic debates of the 1920s, with particular reference to the interpretation of the link between classicism and modernity in the post-avant-garde context and within the creation of a culture for the new regime. Tracing the return to classicism to early 20th century artistic debates and focusing on the writings of critics and intellectuals such as Ardengo Soffici and Margherita Sarfatti, as well as on the contributions to the debate on fascist art promoted by Giuseppe Bottai in the periodical Critica fascista between 1926 and 1927, the aim of the essay is to analyse the ideological trajectory of the concepts of “classicism”, “classicità”, “latinità”, “mediterraneità” and their politicisation within fascist culture. It is argued that the debate on fascism and latinità in the visual arts and in a modernist context was based on an idea of the classical which went beyond strict formal definitions and some of the most obvious visual representations. Latinità was used as a charged category in the search for a national artistic identity capable of establishing an ideal link between tradition and modernity. In this sense, the classical, reformulated through the ideas of the “Latin” and the “Mediterranean”, was used to corroborate the notion of an indissoluble link between the artistic tradition and the nation, thus supporting the ideological basis of the relationship between art and the regime

Epidemiological patterns of asbestos exposure and spatial clusters of incident cases of malignant mesothelioma from the Italian national registry

Abstract BACKGROUND: Previous ecological spatial studies of malignant mesothelioma cases, mostly based on mortality data, lack reliable data on individual exposure to asbestos, thus failing to assess the contribution of different occupational and environmental sources in the determination of risk excess in specific areas. This study aims to identify territorial clusters of malignant mesothelioma through a Bayesian spatial analysis and to characterize them by the integrated use of asbestos exposure information retrieved from the Italian national mesothelioma registry (ReNaM). METHODS: In the period 1993 to 2008, 15,322 incident cases of all-site malignant mesothelioma were recorded and 11,852 occupational, residential and familial histories were obtained by individual interviews. Observed cases were assigned to the municipality of residence at the time of diagnosis and compared to those expected based on the age-specific rates of the respective geographical area. A spatial cluster analysis was performed for each area applying a Bayesian hierarchical model. Information about modalities and economic sectors of asbestos exposure was analyzed for each cluster. RESULTS: Thirty-two clusters of malignant mesothelioma were identified and characterized using the exposure data. Asbestos cement manufacturing industries and shipbuilding and repair facilities represented the main sources of asbestos exposure, but a major contribution to asbestos exposure was also provided by sectors with no direct use of asbestos, such as non-asbestos textile industries, metal engineering and construction. A high proportion of cases with environmental exposure was found in clusters where asbestos cement plants were located or a natural source of asbestos (or asbestos-like) fibers was identifiable. Differences in type and sources of exposure can also explain the varying percentage of cases occurring in women among clusters. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates shared exposure patterns in territorial clusters of malignant mesothelioma due to single or multiple industrial sources, with major implications for public health policies, health surveillance, compensation procedures and site remediation programs

A Woman’s Loss of Imagination: Paola Masino’s Magical Realism in Nascita e morte della Massaia

Criticism on Paola Masino has flourished since the early 2000s. This increased attention has contributed towards reclaiming an author often overshadowed by the attention received by her partner, Massimo Bontempelli, the father of realismo magico. Masino experimented with a variety of styles—realismo magico was one of them—as she rejected strictly naturalistic forms of representation, preferring to co-opt myths and the supernatural. Nascita e morte della Massaia (1945) is Masino’s most renowned literary effort, both for its critique of Fascist Italy and for its sophisticated stylistic effects. Nascita, while indebted to Bontempelli’s theorizations, features all the chief characteristics listed in Faris’s analysis of magical realism as an international phenomenon, and illustrates how magical realism offers strategies for evading censorship to those writing against totalitarianism regimes. At the same time, it is an example of how magical realism can be used to denounce socially imposed gender roles. My analysis shows how this narrative mode emerges on multiple levels within Masino’s text

Notions of tradition and modernity in Italian critical debates of the 1920s

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The ex Casa del Fascio in Predappio and the question of the "difficult heritage" of Fascism in contemporary Italy

In the past few years the long-standing question of the material legacy of the Fascist regime has been the subject of renewed debate in Italy. One of the most high-profile cases is that of the ex Casa del Fascio in Predappio, Mussolini’s hometown, which has recently received a lot of media attention. After decades of neglect and disrepair, in 2015 the building was acquired by the town administration from the state and funds were raised to turn it into an international study centre and a permanent exhibition on the Fascist regime. The idea of a museum of Fascism situated in Predappio sparked a heated debate which is still ongoing and has mobilised deep-seated anxieties about national identity and its narratives, as well as a fear that an incorrectly handled museum-based representation of Fascism could lead to a distortion of the historical understanding of the ventennio and to celebratory evocations. This is particularly felt in relation to the town of Predappio, which has been the destination of nostalgic tourism, pilgrimages and marches, ever since Mussolini’s remains were returned to the town in 1957. Predappio is perceived as an emblematic site of the divided memory of Fascism in Italian history and culture