Research Project
The research aims to investigate the reorganization of the far-right in Italy during the immediate post-war period (1945-1960). The focus is on the transnational circulation of far-right ideas, specifically on exchanges and similarities between neo-fascists in Italy and the German(ic) milieu. The study thus analyzes the cultural world of the Italian right, focusing both on the moderate components and the factions within the neo-fascist galaxy. A sociopolitical analysis of post-war Italy is combined with the cultural perspective.
In light of this, to provide a representation of the cultural world of the right in that period, themes and ideologies discussed in the publications of the more or less moderate factions will be analyzed. In particular, the project aims to reconstruct the common sense/imagery of the environments just described in relation to the situation of the former Axis powers.
The German and Austrian reality of the post-Second World War period presents both similarities to and differences from the Italian situation. Therefore, the study adopts a transnational approach, rather than a comparative one: on the one hand, a thematic analysis of publications (Italian, Austrian, and German) will be carried out, while on the other hand, the editorial (and other) relationships between key figures of the Italian and German right will be reconstructed. Travels and readings of the transnational right-wing protagonists will be the focus of the study. The analysis of these profiles and the circulation of ideas and people is the beating heart of the project.
The concept of European unity and the need for a "strong Germany" are elements frequently present within the collective imagination, especially in the early years of the Cold War. It will therefore be necessary to delve deeper into the role of the Europeanist right and the relationships between these different formations in Italy, Germany, and
Austria. This work is supervised by Professor Valeria Galimi and Professor Andrea Mammone.
Bio
Nicoletta Arena is a PhD student in Historical Studies at the Universities of Florence and Siena.
She earned a bachelor's degree in History from the Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge at the University of Pisa in June 2021, and a master's degree from the same institution in May 2023. Her master's thesis (Sine ira et studio. La rappresentazione fascista-repubblicana dei seicento giorni di Salò) focused on the memoirs of soldiers from the Italian Social Republic (RSI).
She has participated in national and international conferences, including «Le fiamme dal basso». Neofascismo e destre estreme in provincia: protagonisti, strutture, prospettive di ricerca (Siena, October 19-20, 2023); People without history. The public use of subordinate writings in the early modern and modern periods (Genoa, May 13–14, 2024); 1944. L’anno prima della fine della guerra (Pisa, September 9–10, 2024).
She will participate in the conference Extreme Right and Democracy in Europe After the Second World War: Coexistences, Contrasts, Contradictions (Paris, May 20-21, 2025).