Yugoslavia and General Election in Italy in 1948

The paper deals with Yugoslav perceptions of the 1948 general election in Italy. The research focuses primarily on reports of the Yugoslav legation in Rome, which closely monitored the election campaign as well as the consequences of this watershed in the Cold War phase of Italian history. The Yugoslav sources cast a light on the strategies of the principal protagonists in the Italian political turmoil in April 1948.

OPHTHALMIA NEONATORUM in Italy: it is time for change

Ophthalmia neonatorum (ON) refers to any conjunctivitis occurring in the first 28 days of life. In the past Neisseria gonorrhoeae was the most common cause of ON. It decreased with the introduction of prophylaxis at birth with the instillation of silver nitrate 2% (the Credè’s method of prophylaxis). Today, the term ON is used to define any other bacterial infection, in particular due to Chlamydia Trachomatis. Currently, the WHO reccomends topical ocular prophylaxis for prevention of gonococcal and chlamydial conjunctivitis for all neonates. On the contrary, several European countries no longer require universal prophylaxis, opting for screening and treatment of pregnant women at high risk of infection. And what about Italy? Have a look on Italian history of prophylaxis, starting by the first decree issued in 1940, signed by Benito Mussolini. In the following decades the law has undergone many changes. At the moment, legislation is unclear, therefore careful consideration is required in order to draft the correct appoach.

“Robbery Made the Kingdom of Italy, Misery Will Unmake It”

This contribution analyses the nineteenth-century debate on one of the most hotly debated topics of Italian history: public debt and taxation. Starting in the 1850s, fiscal policies were weaponised by liberal nationalist elites and their opponents alike to promote their contrary worldviews by arguing over the merits of national unification and a parliamentary system on the basis of their fiscal outcomes. First Piedmont, then unified Italy, were eagerly expected by Catholics and Bourbon legitimists to default on their debts as a result of their moral and fiscal profligacy, while liberals were concerned about popular support for the national cause in a context of rising taxes. Southern Italy in particular was very vocal in denouncing its perceived fiscal mistreatment by the Italian government, an accusation the North rejected by portraying Southerners as unpatriotic tax evaders. Today, these narratives are re-emerging not only in public debates questioning the Risorgimento as the nation’s founding myth but also in the discourse about European integration.

Italy: The Military in Politics

The Italian case is virtually nonexistent in almost all the best general works on military intervention in politics, but understanding the Italian case could add much to the academic debate as the debate seems to be again investigating the role of the military in established democracies. The most important key to understanding the story of Italian civil–military relations is not military professionalism. Rather, a specific feature of these cases could lay in the reduced strength of the different players (the military, the civilians). These widespread and common weaknesses end up being a continuity along all Italian history: the first years of Risorgimento and Liberal Italy, fascism, the advent of the Republic and democracy after the end of World War II, and even in the post-Cold War decades. Because of this continuity, the work of historians could be most useful for political scientists. What is interesting is that whether the Italian military was strong or weak, it almost always managed to have its demands met by influencing, penetrating, and conditioning the political system. Almost always, the military did not need to intervene directly. And this is another reason to better understand this case without the influence of old, biased national stereotypes and as studied by Italian scholars but ignored in its subtleties by international scholarship.

Paesaggi rurali e pandemia. Opportunità da cogliere da parte della PAC

La pandemia ha messo in luce la debolezza del sistema ambientale in cui oggi viviamo e dell’agricoltura fortemente specializzata e a bassa biodiversità. I paesaggi dell’agricoltura tradizionale che mantengono caratteri di storicità sono il risultato di lenti processi di adattamento delle tecniche alla natura, offrono un’elevata biodiversità e sono sorgente di resilienza delle comunità: possono pertanto offrire una risposta alla crisi climatica e pandemica che stiamo attraversando. Su questo tema alcuni esperti italiani di diversa formazione ed esperienza sono stati invitati ad esprimere la loro opinione allo scopo di offrire spunti per la nuova politica agricola. Ne sono emerse indicazioni per i paesaggi agricoli di pianura, di montagna e di città: attuare un’agroecologia di pianura, implementare la zootecnia in montagna, costruire una montagna competitiva con altri territori nella produzione e nel turismo ed accogliente per nuovi cittadini e turisti consapevoli, migliorare il riconoscimento e la retribuzione degli agricoltori come manutentori del paesaggio e fornitori di alimenti e di servizi sociali per la città. Infine gli autori hanno sintetizzato cinque suggerimenti per la futura PAC che offra una nuova visione del nostro vivere post pandemia, attraverso la valorizzazione dei paesaggi agrari portatori della storia e dell’identità italiana. The pandemic has highlighted the weakness of the environmental system and highly specialized agriculture with low biodiversity, where we live today. The traditional agricultural landscapes guardians of historic signs and practices are the result of slow processes of adapting techniques to nature, are a source of community resilience and high biodiversity: they can therefore offer a response to the climate and pandemic crisis we are experiencing. On this issue, some Italian experts with different backgrounds and experiences were invited to express their opinion in order to provide ideas for the new agricultural policy. Indications concern the agricultural landscapes of the plains, mountains and cities: implement agroecology in the plain, maintain animal husbandry, build a competitive production and tourism, welcome new citizens and aware tourists in the mountains, improve the recognition and remuneration of farmers as landscape maintainers and providers of food and social services for the cities. Finally, the authors summarized five suggestions for the future CAP that offer a new vision for our post-pandemic life, through the enhancement of agricultural landscapes that are bearers of Italian history and identity.

The Development of Historical Competencies in Secondary Education: A Study Based on the Analysis of Sources in Spanish and Italian History Textbooks

This work presents the results of research whose main objective was to analyze the sources present in Geography and History textbooks used in Spain and Italy in secondary education, as well as how they were designed for use by the teaching staff of this subject. This research was carried out for the benefit of teachers and for the improvement of the teaching-learning process. The sample was configured on the basis of a rigorous analysis of textbooks belonging to relevant publishers in Spain and Italy, whose selection was made using a quantitative and descriptive research method based on the interpretative paradigm, with the help of an SPSS statistical program. As for the main results obtained, the data indicated that the tasks requested from students (based on the use or analysis of sources) are of a low cognitive level, which makes it difficult to learn critical and reflective historical thinking. Finally, it was concluded that for students to strengthen the development and acquisition of critical thinking, the use of textbooks must be integrated with other, more active resources and more participatory teaching strategies, putting both competency-based teaching and its assessment in quarantine.

Fascism, Anti-Fascism and the Idea of Nation: Italian Historiography and Public Debate since the 1980s

It is common to consider 1989 as a kind of ‘zero hour’. This applies to East Central European and to Italian history alike. A thought-provoking book, published in 1993, evoked the image of ‘an avalanche that swells downhill, speeded up and enriched by the great landslide of the nearby great mountain’. In this way the historian Luciano Cafagna described the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Italian democracy. As a matter of fact, the Italian party system, based on the leading role of the Christian Democratic Party and of the West's major Communist Party, suddenly collapsed in the three years that followed the end of the Cold War because of a growing loss of legitimacy. In hindsight, though, I argue that the first, mostly invisible, movements of this ‘avalanche’ went further back in time, to well before 1989. The early 1990s simply marked its spectacular acceleration.