History of Italy (1861-today)

Context
After the outcome of the second war of independence and after the plebiscites in the various conquered territories or
annexed, with the first convening of the Italian Parliament on February 18, 1861 and the subsequent
proclamation of March 17, Vittorio Emanuele III of Savoy became the prime minister of Italy.
The population, compared to the original Kingdom of Sardinia, quintupled. Institutionally and
Legally, the Kingdom of Italy was configured as an enlargement of the Kingdom of Sardinia,
it was indeed a constitutional monarchy.
In 1866, Italy, in accordance with the Italo-Prussian alliance, participated in the Austro-Prussian war.
declaring war on Austria. This war, which has been dubbed the third war of
Italian independence allowed Italy, based on the Treaty of Vienna, to extend its sovereignty.
also to Veneto.
The newborn State therefore found itself, from the very beginning, trying to solve issues of standardization.
of laws, of lack of resources due to empty state coffers for military expenses, of creation
of a single currency for the entire peninsula and, more generally, management problems for all the territories
suddenly acquired. Difficulties which were compounded by other structural shortcomings, such as for example
illiteracy and widespread poverty, as well as lack of infrastructure.
The issues that dominated the early years after the unification of Italy were the disastrous situation
economics of the Mezzogiorno and the post-unification anti-Savoy brigandage in the southern regions
(especially between 1861 and 1869): the problem became known as the "Southern Question."
Another element of fragility for the young Italian kingdom was the hostility of the Catholic clergy.
its confrontations, hostility that would have strengthened after 1870 and the takeover of Rome assuming also in
this case the designation of 'Roman question'.

The historical right

The historic Right, composed mainly of the upper bourgeoisie and landowners, formed the new
government, which had as its primary objectives the completion of national unification, the construction of
new State (for which a centralist model was chosen) and financial recovery through new
taxes that generated public discontent and intensified brigandage, suppressed by force.
In foreign policy, the historical Right maintained the traditional alliance with France, although the two
Nations clashed over various issues, first and foremost the annexation of Veneto and the conquest of Rome.
In 1876 the government, presided over by Marco Minghetti, was disempowered for the first time not for
royal authority, but by the Parliament (parliamentary revolution). Thus began the era of the Left
historical, led by Agostino Depretis. An era was ending: in 1878 Vittorio Emanuele II died, and on the throne
he succeeded Umberto I.

The historical left

The Left abandoned the goal of balancing the budget and initiated policies of democratization and
the modernization of the country, investing in public education and expanding the suffrage, and starting
a protectionist policy of investments in infrastructure and development of the national industry with
the direct intervention of the State in the economy.
Regarding foreign policy, Depretis abandoned the alliance with France, due to the
the conquest by the Alpine state of Tunisia. Italy then entered the Triple Alliance,
aligning with Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He promoted the development of Italian colonialism,
first of all with the occupation of Massaua in Eritrea.
The cholera epidemic of 1884-1885 claimed almost 18,000 victims in Italy. Crispi, just
he obtained the leadership of the government, established the Public Health Directorate at the Ministry of the Interior,
involving doctors in the decision-making process for the first time. A specific law from 1888, moreover,
transformed the Higher Council of Health into a body of specialist doctors instead of administrators. The
Norma established the principle that the State should be responsible for the health of its citizens.

The Giolittian era

From 1901 to 1914, Italian history and politics were strongly influenced by the governments led by Giovanni.
Giolitti.
As the newly elected President of the Council, he found himself having to face, first of all, the wave of widespread
discontent that politics Crispina had caused with the rise in prices. And it is with this first
confrontation with social parties that highlighted the breath of fresh air that Giolitti brought to the political landscape
between the 19th and 20th centuries. No more authoritarian repression, but rather acceptance of protests and
so strikes, as long as they are not violent or political, with the aim (successful) of bringing the socialists within the fold
parliamentary.
The most important interventions of Giolitti were social and labor legislation, and suffrage.
universal male, the nationalization of railways and insurance, the reduction of debt
state, the development of infrastructure and industry.
In foreign policy, there was a rapprochement of Italy with the Triple Entente of France, the United Kingdom, and Russia.
The colonial policy in the Horn of Africa continued, and after the Italo-Turkish war, there were
Libya occupied Dodecanese. Giolitti failed in his attempt to curb nationalism as he had
constitutionalized the socialists, and therefore was unable to prevent Italy's entry into the First World War
worldwide then the rise of fascism.

Italy in World War I (1915-1918)

The initial neutrality
In the First World War, Italy initially remained neutral, only to later join the Allies.
on May 23, 1915, after the signing of the secret Pact of London.
The agreement stipulated that Italy would enter the war alongside the Allies within a month, and in exchange
would have obtained, in case of victory, Trentino, Tyrol up to Brenner (South Tyrol), Giulian Venice,
the Istrian peninsula, excluding Rijeka, a part of Dalmatia.
As for colonial possessions, Italy would have conquered the archipelago.
the Dodecanese (occupied, but not annexed to a colony after the Italo-Turkish War), the base
diValonainAlbania, the coal basin of AdaliainTurkey, as well as an expansion of the colonies
African, at the expense of Germany (Italy already possessed Libya, Somalia, and Eritrea in Africa).

1915
The State Italian decide of to enter in war he 24 May 1915.
The command of the army was entrusted to General Luigi Cadorna, whose objective was to
reaching Vienna passing through Ljubljana1At dawn on May 24, the Royal Army fired the
first cannon shot against the Austro-Hungarian positions entrenched in Cervignano del Friuli,
A few hours later, it became the first city conquered. At dawn on the same day, the Austro-
Hungary bombed the railway station of Manfredonia; at 11:56 PM, it bombed Ancona. On the same 24th
In May, the first Italian soldier fell, Riccardo Di Giusto.
The front opened by Italy had as its theater the Alps, from the Stelvio to the Adriatic Sea. The main effort
To break through the front, it was concentrated in the Isonzo valley region, towards Ljubljana.
After an initial Italian advance, the Austro-Hungarians received the order to entrench and resist. They
he arrived at a war situation similar to that which was taking place on the western front: the only one
the difference lay in the fact that, while on the western front the trenches were dug in the mud, on the
Italian front lines were carved into the rocks and glaciers of the Alps up to and beyond 3,000 meters in altitude.
In the last battles of the Isonzo, fought at the end of 1915, the Italian losses amounted to over
60,000 dead and over 150,000 injured, equivalent to about a quarter of the mobilized forces.
1916
The beginning of 1916 was characterized by the fifth battle of the Isonzo, which did not bring any results.
Clashes that followed the Austro-Hungarians broke through in Trentino, occupying the Asiago plateau.
This offensive was barely stopped by the Italian Army, which responded with a counter-offensive pushing back
the enemy up to the Karst plateau. The clash was called the Battle of the Plateaus. On August 4, 1916, it was
conquered Gorizia, which, although not of strategic importance, was taken at a high cost (20,000
deaths and 50,000 injured). Even the last three battles fought that year did not lead to any
strategic gain at the cost of 37,000 dead and 88,000 injured.
Besides the conquest of Gorizia, the only territorial gain was the advancement of the front by some
kilometer in Trentino.

1917
On August 18, 1917, the most significant Italian offensive in the conflict began, with 600 battalions and 5,200...
pieces of artillery (against, respectively, the 250 and 2,200 Austrians). Despite the effort, the battle
did not lead to any territorial acquisition nor to the conquest of strategic positions. Huge
it was the price paid in blood (30,000 dead, 110,000 wounded, and 20,000 missing or prisoners).
In October 1917, Russia abandoned the conflict due to the communist revolution. The troops
The central empires were moved from the eastern front to the western front.
Given the outcomes of the last Italian offensive and the reinforcements coming from the eastern front, Austro-Hungarian and
The Germans decided to attempt the advance. On October 24, the Austro-Hungarians and the Germans broke the front.
converging on Caporetto and encircled the 2aArm commanded by General Luigi Capello.
General Capello and Luigi Cadorna had long suspected a probable attack, but
They underestimated the news and the actual offensive capacity of the enemy forces. The Austrians advanced.
per 150 km in a southwest direction reaching Udine in just four days. The only army that
resisted the disaster[2] it was 3a, guided by Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, cousin of King Vittorio Emanuele
III.
The breaking of the Caporetto front caused the collapse of the Italian positions along the Isonzo, with the retreat.
of the armed forces deployed from the Adriatic to the Valsugana, in Trentino. The 350,000 soldiers stationed along the
the front retreated in a disorderly manner together with 400,000 civilians fleeing from the invaded areas.
The losses of military material were significant. Initially, an attempt was made to halt the retreat by bringing the
new front along the Tagliamento river, with little success, then at the Piave river, where, on November 11
1917, the retreat ended also thanks to King Vittorio Emanuele III's rejection of the proposal
retreat to the Mincio.
Following the defeat, General Cadorna, in the statement issued on October 29, 1917, indicated, in a manner
erroneous and instrumental "the lack of resistance from the units of the II army" as the motivation for the
breakthrough of the front by the Austro-Hungarian army.
Subsequently, Cadorna, invited to take part in the Inter-Allied Conference in Versailles, was replaced by
General Armando Diaz, on November 8, 1917, after the retreat had stabilized definitively on the line.
of Monte Grappa and the Piave.
The defeat brought some consequences: Cadorna was removed from office and replaced by
Marshal Armando Diaz in the role of Chief of Staff. In addition to Cadorna, he also lost his position.
General Luigi Capello, considered the main responsible for the defeat. Another effect of the debacle.
the high discontent among the troops. Riots were frequent, and many ended with summary
executions.
1918
Cadorna's severe discipline, the long months in the trenches, and the disaster of Caporetto had worn out
the army. For the more religious soldiers, the words of Pope Benedict XV were also decisive.
on the 'useless massacre'. Diaz, to tackle these problems and to achieve victory, changed
completely strategy. First of all, it lightened the strict discipline. Secondly, being the new
a more defensible front than that along the Isonzo, aimed at targeted actions for the defense of the territory
national, rather than to sterile but bloody counterattacks. This is the consolidation of the troops and of
nation, a prerequisite for final victory. Already in 1917, the class of those born was called to arms.
in 1899 (the so-called '99 Boys').
The Austro-Hungarians stopped the attacks in anticipation of the spring of 1918, preparing for an offensive.
that should have brought them to penetrate into the Venetian plain.
The Austro-Hungarian offensive began on June 15: the Empire's army attacked with 66 divisions in the
Battle of the Solstice (June 15-22, 1918), which saw the Italians resist the assault. The Austro-Hungarians
they lost their hopes, seeing that the country was now on the verge of collapse, tormented by the impossibility
to continue to support the war effort on both the economic and social levels, given the inability
of the State to act as a guarantor of the integrity of the multinational Habsburg state. With the peoples of the empire
Austrian on the brink of revolution, Italy anticipated by a year the offensive planned for 1919 to
engage the Austro-Hungarian reserves and prevent them from continuing the offensive on the front
French.
At Vittorio Veneto, on October 23, the offensive began, under terrible weather conditions. The Italians
They advanced quickly in Veneto, Friuli, and Cadore, and on October 29, Austria-Hungary surrendered. On the 3rd
In November, at Villa Giusti, near Padua, the army of the Empire signed the armistice; the Italian soldiers
They entered at Trent while the sharpshooters landed in Trieste, called by the local health committee.
public, which, however, had requested the landing of Allied troops. The next day, while the general
Armando Diaz announced the victory, Rovinj, Poreč, Zadar, Lissae, and Rijeka were occupied.
The latter - although not included among the territories promised by the London Pact - was occupied later.
to the events of October 30, 1918, when the National Council, seated in the town hall after the flight
of the Hungarians and the takeover of power by Croatian troops, had proclaimed the union of the city
to Italy based on Wilsonian principles.
According to some accounts, the Italian army intended to occupy Ljubljana as well, but was stopped.
shortly after Postumia by Serbian troops. On November 5, naval units entered Pola, which was occupied
for a few days by some Slovenian and Croatian military units already part of the Austrian army, on behalf of
of the newly established (and ephemeral) State of the Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs. The following day they were
sent other means to Sebenico which became the main headquarters of the Military Government of Dalmatia.
The last fallen Italian was Corporal Major Giuseppe Pezzarossa, 19 years old, belonging to the
1st Section Mantova, hit by a bullet in the forehead at 3 PM on October 30, 1918, south of Udine.
This sad record is contested by Attilio Del Gobbo, who, at twenty years old, fell under the fire of the army.
Austro-Hungarian forces in retreat, on the morning of November 4 while heading from Feletto Umberto.
(Tavagnacco) towards Udine waving the tricolor to welcome the Italian troops that have arrived in the city.
According to the historian Giuseppe Del Bianco, Udine has thus given the first (Riccardo Di Giusto) and the last
victim of the First World War.[3]

The outcome of the conflict

Italy completed its national unification by acquiring Trentino-Alto Adige and Venezia Giulia.
Istria and some territories of Friuli still unredeemed. These regions had been part, until then,
of the Cisleithania within the Austro-Hungarian Empire (with the exception of the city of Fiume, incorporated
in the Kingdom of Italy in 1924 and placed in Transleitania). Furthermore, the Kingdom of Italy was assigned some
territorial compensations in Africa, like the Oltregiubain in Somalia.
But the price was very high: 651,010 soldiers, 589,000 civilians for a total of 1,240,000 dead.
population of only 36 million, with the highest mortality rate in the age group between 20 and 24
years.[4][5][6]
The social and economic consequences were very severe: Italy with its economy based
Agriculture lost a large portion of its workforce, causing the ruin of many families.
However, Italy did not have its acquired territorial rights in Dalmatia recognized following its intervention alongside
of the allies: based on the London Pact with which it had negotiated its entry into war, Italy
it should have obtained Northern Dalmatia including the cities of Zadar, Šibenik, and Trogir.
Indeed, based on the principle of nationality advocated by the United States President Thomas Woodrow
Wilson, Dalmatia was annexed to the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, with
the exception of Zara (with a majority of Italians) and the island of Lagosta, which along with three other islands were
to Italy.
This refusal by the Allies to uphold the commitments made in the London Pact created numerous
tensions in Italian politics in the post-World War I period, and one of the biggest beneficiaries was Benito Mussolini
with his "Fascism".

Fascism
The origins
After the Great War, the internal situation in Italy was precarious: the peace treaty signed at
However, Versailles had not completed the entire process of annexations planned in 1915, which
they would have guaranteed Italy a position of great influence in the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean.
The state coffers were almost empty also because the air force had lost a good part during the conflict.
its value, in light of a cost of living increased by at least 450%. Raw materials were scarce.
prime and the industries struggled to convert war production into peace production and to absorb
the abundance of labor increased by soldiers returning from the front.
For these reasons, no social class was satisfied, and especially among the wealthy, the fear crept in of
a possible communist revolution, based on the Russian example. The extreme socio-economic fragility led to
often to disorders, which most of the time were swiftly and bloodily suppressed by the forces
arm

Birth of fascism
Among the most discontented social strata and those most susceptible to nationalist suggestions and propaganda that, to
Following the Peace Treaty, the myth of the mutilated victory was ignited and fueled.
organizations of veterans, particularly those that gathered the former Arditi (elite assault troops),
where, in addition to the widespread discontent, resentment arose from not having
obtained adequate recognition for the sacrifices, courage, and disregard for danger demonstrated in
years of hard fighting at the front.

With the end of World War I and Italy having emerged victorious in the conflict, at the
the Paris peace conference requested that the London pact (memorandum) be applied to the letter,
which also provided for the annexation of Dalmatia; this did not happen due to the opposing opinion of the
President Wilson. France also did not look favorably upon an Italian Dalmatia.
since it would have allowed Italy to control the traffic coming from the Danube. The result was that the
the powers of the Allied Intesa opposed a refusal and retracted what was promised in 1915. Italy
The division on what to do made Vittorio Emanuele Orlando leave the peace conference in protest.
Paris. The winning powers were thus free to continue the negotiations, postponing the definition of
Italian eastern borders to successive consultations between Italy itself and the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats
the Slovenes. The issue was temporarily defined by the Treaty of Rapallo (1920), and - as far as
regarding the city of Fiume - with the Treaty of Rome (1924).
This was the context in which on March 23, 1919, Benito Mussolini founded in Milan the first fascio of
combat, adopting symbols that until then had distinguished the guards, such as the shirts
here is the skull.
The new movement expressed the desire to "transform, if it becomes inevitable, also with methods
revolutionaries, Italian life "self-defining as a party of the ordinary thus managing to gain trust
of the richest and conservative classes, opposed to any agitation and labor claims, in the
hope that the shockwave of the 'combat beams' could oppose the disturbances promoted
from the socialists and the popular Catholics.
Initially, the neo-natal movement lacked a well-defined ideological basis, and Mussolini himself...
at first, he was not aligned in favor of this or that idea, but simply against
all the others. In his intentions, fascism was supposed to represent the 'third way.'

The years of squadristi

In the movement, besides the Arditi, also futurists, nationalists, and former fighters of every weapon converged but
also elements of questionable morality. Just 20 days after the founding of the Fasci, the newly formed teams
of actions clashed with the socialists and stormed the headquarters of the socialist newspaper L'Avanti!
devastating it: the newspaper's sign was torn down and brought to Mussolini as a trophy. It was the beginning of the war.
civil.
Within a few months, the fascist teams spread throughout Italy, giving the movement strength.
paramilitary. For two years, Italy was swept from north to south by the violence of political movements
opposing revolutionaries of fascism and bolshevism who began to contend for the field, under the
the gaze of a State almost unable to react to both strikes and occupations of
factories by the Bolshevik side, regarding the "punitive expeditions" of the squadristi.
On November 12, 1921, the National Fascist Party (PNF) was born, transforming the movement into a party.
and accepting some legal and constitutional compromises with the moderate forces. During that period, the PNF
it reached a total of 300,000 members (at the time of maximum expansion the PSI had exceeded)
few i 200,000 members) strong also with the support of the Emilian and Tuscan landowners. Right in these
Regions led by the ras were more determined to target trade unionists and socialists.
intimidating them with the infamous practice of the baton and castor oil, or even
committing murders that most of the time remained unpunished. In this climate of violence, during the elections
On May 15, 1921, the fascists unexpectedly won 35 seats.

March on Rome and early years of government

After the Congress of Naples, where 40,000 black shirts shouted to march on Rome, Mussolini
he followed through with his insurrection plans against the weak Italian government: the moment seemed favorable,
and a strong contingent of 50,000 squad members was gathered in upper Lazio and led by a
quadrumvirate, composed of Italo Balbo (one of the most famous ras), Emilio De Bono (commander of the
Militia), Cesare Maria De Vecchi (a general not unpopular with the Quirinal) and Michele Bianchi (secretary
of Mussolini's loyal party which, on the other hand, remained prudently in Milan), moved against the
Capital, October 26, 1922. While the Army was preparing to face the fascist coup.
(With Pietro Badoglio, main supporter of the hard line) King Vittorio Emanuele III refused to sign.
the emergency state decree, forcing the resignation of the Prime Minister Luigi Facta and the
his government. The black shirts marched on the Capital on October 28, without encountering any
resistance and also carrying out some violent actions against the communists and socialists of the city.
On October 30, after the march on Rome, the king tasked Benito Mussolini with forming the new government.
the head of fascism left Milan for Rome, and immediately got to work. At only 39 years old
Mussolini became prime minister, the youngest in the history of united Italy.
The new government included elements from the moderate center and right parties and military, and -
obviously - many fascists.
Among the first initiatives undertaken by the new political course was the attempt to 'normalize' the
fascist squads - which in many cases continued to commit violence -, measures in favor of the
mutilated and war invalids, drastic reductions in public spending, school reform
(Gentile Reform), the signing of the Washington agreements on naval disarmament, and the acceptance of the status
with regard to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia about the eastern borders and the protection of the Italian minority
in Dalmatia.

Fascism becomes a dictatorship

In view of the elections on April 6, 1924, Mussolini had a new electoral law approved.
"Acerbo Law") which would have given three-fifths of the seats to the list that gathered 40% of the votes. The
The electoral campaign took place in an unprecedented climate of tension with intimidation and beatings.
The list guided by Mussolini obtained 64.9% of the votes.
On May 30, 1924, the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti took the floor in the Chamber challenging the
election results. On June 10, 1924, Matteotti was kidnapped and killed.
The opposition responded to this event by withdrawing to the Aventine (Aventine Secession), but the
Mussolini's position remained until August 16 when Matteotti's decomposed body was found in the
press of Rome. Men qualitative Antonio Bonomi SalandraeVittorio Emanuele
Orlando exerted pressure on the king to have Mussolini removed, but Vittorio Emanuele
III appealing to the Albertine Statute replied: "I am deaf and blind. My eyes and my ears are
the Chamber and the Senate" and therefore did not intervene.

What exactly happened on New Year's Eve of 1924 may never be established.
January 1925 in the Chamber, Mussolini delivered the famous speech in which he took on every responsibility for the
events that occurred:

With this speech, Mussolini declared himself a dictator. In the years 1925-1926, several measures were enacted.
series of freedom-restraining measures: all non-fascist parties and trade unions were dissolved,
every freedom of the press, assembly, or speech was suppressed, the death penalty was reintroduced and
A special tribunal was created with broad powers, capable of sending to exile with a
simple administrative measure against people undesirable to the regime.

The economic crisis

The first major problem that the dictatorship had to face was the heavy devaluation of the lira.
The production recovery after the end of the First World War brought negative effects such as shortages.
of raw materials due to strong demand and excessive productivity relative to actual needs of the
population. In the immediate term, the first signs of the crisis were a general increase in prices, the rise
of unemployment, a decrease in wages, and the lack of investments in Italy and in loans to
State.
To solve the problem, as in Germany, it was decided to print additional money to be able to
repay the war debts contracted with the United States and Great Britain. Obviously, this did nothing else
to increase the inflation rate and undermine the credibility of the lira, which was heavily devalued in
comparisons between dollar and pound.

The measures to counter the crisis did not take long: a type of bread was put on the market.
with less flour, alcohol was added to gasoline, the working hours were increased from 8 to 9
without changes in salary, a bachelor tax was instituted, all possible levies were increased
Taxes, the construction of luxury homes was prohibited, tax controls were increased, were
reduced newspaper prices, blocked rents, and reduced the prices of train tickets and stamps.

The reconciliation with the Church

On February 11, 1929, the Lateran Pacts were signed, establishing mutual recognition between the Kingdom
of Italy the State of Vatican City.
The relationship between the State and the Church was previously governed by the so-called law of the
Guarantee unilaterally approved by the Italian Parliament on May 13, 1871 after the capture of
Rome, this law was never recognized by the popes.
Between fascism and the Church there was always a tense relationship: Mussolini had always declared himself an atheist but
He knew very well that to govern in Italy one could not go against the Church and Catholics.
The Church, for its part, although not viewing fascism favorably, preferred it by far.
to the communist ideology.
On the threshold of power, Mussolini stated (June 1921) that 'fascism does not practice anti-clericalism' and
On the eve of the march on Rome, the Holy See stated that it would have nothing to fear from him and
from his men.
With the ratification of the concordat, the Catholic religion became the state religion in Italy, it was established
the teaching of Catholic religion in schools was recognized sovereignty and independence
of the Holy See.

The years of consensus

In 1929, autarky also entered the language. In fact, all foreign words were banned from every
communication written ed awesome ad example key English became key
walrus, cognac became silver, ferry-boat became train-barge. Consequently, they came
renominate all the cities with Francophone names in north-western Italy and with
northeast Italy's nomenclature: according to fascist toponymy, to make a couple of
Examples, Courmayeur became Cormaiore and Kaltern became Caldaro. Furthermore, it was found that the use
she had foreign origins, so a campaign was launched to replace the icons
the one led by the party secretary Achille Starace.
On October 11, 1935, Italy was sanctioned for the war in Ethiopia. The sanctions came into effect on the 18th.
November consisted of:

Embargo on weapons and ammunition

Prohibition on granting loans or opening credits in Italy
 Prohibition on importing Italian goods
Ban on exporting goods or raw materials essential to the war industry to Italy
Paradoxically, in the list of goods subject to embargo are oil and semi-finished products.
In reality, it was only Great Britain that observed the rules imposed by the sanctions.
Nazi Germany and the United States were the first two countries to openly align towards
Italy, ensuring the possibility of purchasing any goods. Russia supplied the Army with naphthalene.
Throughout the duration of the conflict, and even Poland proved to be quite open.
During this time, all of Italy rallied around Mussolini. Great Britain was labeled with
the end of perfidious Albion, and the other powers were labeled as enemies because they were hindering
to Italy the achievement of a place in the sun. Patriotism and political propaganda came back into vogue
was spun so that only Italian products were consumed. This was basically the birth of autarky, according to the
everything had to be produced and consumed within the state. Everything that could not be
Product due to lack of raw materials was replaced: tea with ilkarkadè, coal with lignite,
lalanacon illanital (the casein wool), the benzinacon ilcarburante nazionale (gasoline with 85%
alcohol) while coffee was abolished because "it is harmful" and replaced with barley "coffee".

The civil war in Spain

On July 18, 1936, the civil war broke out in Spain between the leftists of the Popular Front, in power since the
1936 elections, and the Falange, an ideologically comparable force to fascism that thanks
the support of the Spanish Catholic Church, to the military contribution of Germany and Italy led to the
power in the hands of Francisco Franco.
At the outbreak of hostilities, over 60,000 volunteers rushed from 53 nations to help the Republicans while
Mussolini and Hitler unofficially provided support to the Falange. In this context, it is not uncommon
Italian fighters on both sides clashed in a real fratricidal struggle. The Italians rushed in.
those who fought for the Second Spanish Republic were among the most numerous, surpassed only by nationality
from Germans and French.

The alliance with Nazi Germany

Since 1938, Europe began to breathe in the air of war: Hitler had already annexed Austria and the Sudetenland.
the subsequent Conference in Munich was given the green light for the annexation of the whole
Czechoslovakia.
Italy, in the meantime, started a parallel war by occupying Albania. In just two days (April 7-8, 1939) with
Tirana was conquered with the aid of 22,000 men and 140 tanks.
On May 22, the Pact of Steel was signed between Germany and Italy, which linked the two countries in a close
alliance. Some members of the Italian government opposed, and the same Galeazzo Ciano, signatory for
Italy referred to the pact as a "real dynamite"

The racial laws

On July 14, 1938, the 'Manifesto of Race' was published in the major national newspapers. In this sort of
appointed by five professors (Arturo Donaggio, Franco Savorgnan, Edoardo Zavattari, Nicola
PendeeSabato Visco) and five university assistants (Leone Franci, Lino Businco, Lidio
Cipriani, Guido Landra, and Marcello Ricci) set the 'position of fascism towards the
problems of race.
The ten categorical imperatives were:

Human races exist

There are large breeds and small breeds.
3. The concept of race is a purely biological concept.
4. The population of present-day Italy is mostly Aryan and its civilization is Aryan.
5. It is a legend the contribution of large masses of men in historical times.
 Is there now a pure 'Italian' race?
7. It's time for Italians to frankly proclaim themselves as racists.
8. It is necessary to make a clear distinction between the Mediterranean countries of Europe (Western) on one side and
the Orientals and the Africans on the other side
The Jews do not belong to the Italian race.
10. The purely European physical and psychological characteristics of Italians must not be altered in
no way
This manifesto marked the beginning of the process that led to the enactment of the racial laws.

The war of Ethiopia and the birth of the empire

Fascism sought first of all to present itself differently towards Ethiopia trying to
to implement a treaty of friendship with the administration of Regent Hailé Selassié. This agreement is
was finalized in 1928. In this phase, the Eritrean colony, under the administration of Governor Jacopo
Gasparini sought to obtain a protectorate over Yemen to create a base for a colonial empire.
On the Arabian Peninsula, Mussolini did not want to make an enemy of Great Britain and stopped the project.

Following the complete conquest of Libya, which took place at the end of the 1920s, Mussolini expressed
the intention of giving an Empire to Italy and the only territory left free from foreign interference was
Abyssinia, despite being a member of the League of Nations. The invasion project began
the day after the conclusion of the agreements on the friendship treaty and ended with the entry
of the Italian army in Addis Ababa on May 5, 1936.
Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) was conquered by Italian troops, commanded by General Pietro
Badoglio after the war of 1935-1936. The victory was announced on May 9, 1936, King of Italy Vittorio
Emanuel III took the title of Emperor of Ethiopia (with the title of Qesar, instead of Negus).
Neghesti), Mussolini the Founder of the Empire, and Badoglio was granted the title of Duke of Addis
Abeba.

Italy in World War II (1940-1945)

In 1940, Italy fu ally with Germany NazistanellaSeconda war

worldwide against France and the United Kingdom, declaring war on the Soviet Union in 1941 and with
the Japanese Empire to the United States of America. Mussolini indeed believed in a lightning war in favor
the Germany of Hitler from which to gain advantages as an ally. On June 10, 1940, Italy therefore entered
in war. The first clashes took place on June 21 in the Alps, against France, now under attack by
Germans with the blitzkrieg tactic, which brought to the Italian fascist state the only conquest of a small
a strip in the south of the country, restoring the borders to before 1850, excluding Nice. Between August and
In September, operations began in Africa. On August 3, British Somaliland was attacked.
was conquered on August 19.
At the same time, to the north, the troops commanded by General Rodolfo Graziani attacked the
English troops stationed in Egypt pushed as far as Sidi Barrani. At the same time, the General Staff
The fascist concentrated his expansionist ambitions in Greece. Several times blocked by Germany during
In the summer of October 1940, the Italians began to move towards the peninsula. Thinking that they would not
finding any resistance the Italian troops advanced, but between November and December the Greeks, aided
Even the English took action and forced the Italians to retreat to Albania. Even the fleet
Italy suffered some losses among its men and the partial sinking of the battleship Cavour and the
damage to two other ships due to an attack by the British aviation at the port of Taranto.
In the meantime, the situation worsened in Africa.
The failures in Greece then led, on December 4, to the resignation from the position of head of state.
Major Pietro Badoglio, who was replaced by General Ugo Cavallero. A few days later, between the 6th and
On December 16, the English launched an offensive in North Africa, defeating the Italian troops and
retaking Sidi Barrani the Bay of Sollum.
1941
In February 1941, the English defeated the Italians again, in Egypt penetrating as well.
in the Libyan region of Cyrenaica. At the same time, the first failures were also recorded.
in the colonies of the Horn of Africa, culminating on May 20 with the surrender of the Duke of Aosta after the battle
on Amba Alagi. On this occasion, the Italian army was honored by the British.
In March, operations resumed in Greece, but despite the efforts made by Cavallero, the army
Italy was once again defeated and this fact caused the end of the so-called Parallel War.
the Mussolini[13]
In April, Italy participated in the invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia together with the other Axis Powers and
to the relative partition of the Balkan country: in the areas annexed by Italy, the Province of was established
Ljubljana, the Province of Fiume, and the Governorship of Dalmatia; furthermore, Italy was also granted the right to
nominally appoint a representative at the head of the newly established Independent State of Croatia
diCasa Savoia- the Italian influence on the Independent State of Croatia was limited only to the areas
coastal and, based on agreements with the head of the Croatian government Ante Pavelić, Italy would have had for 25
for years the dominion of the Croatian coastline.[13]

The German intervention in the Balkans delayed the campaign in Russia, which was undertaken in
June 1941, with Operation Barbarossa. The Italian government decided on a wide participation of the
own troops, fearing they would have an increasingly marginal role in the war, sending into action
The Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia under the command of General Giovanni Messe.
At the same time, the arrival of Erwin Rommel in Libya saw a marked improvement in the situation.
but as the months passed, the scarcity of supplies due to their sinking by the
The English stationed in Malta pushed the front back again. In Russia, the CSIR won some battles.
But, starting from October, winter caused various problems for the Italian soldiers, who were not equipped with sufficient
protection against the cold.

1942
In 1942, Italian operations concentrated in the Soviet Union and Africa. On both fronts, thanks to
all German troops had frequent successes: in Russia they conquered vast territories and reached
to control Stalingrad during the summer as Rommel pushed into Egypt in North Africa,
conquering various cities, but due to the attacks from the Anglo-American aviation and the constant reinforcements
less frequent one suffered a defeat in the battle of El Alamein, which marked the end of hopes
of the Axis to conquer Egypt and the oil fields of the Middle East. Following this defeat
the retreat began and the Italians, not equipped with fast means, were defeated by the English, with the
Ariete divisions and Littorio that were almost completely annihilated by the counter-offensive.

The situation then worsened in Russia with the approach of winter; in fact, Mussolini had not
to strengthen the equipment of the Italian troops belonging to the ARMIR,[14]exCSIR. Already
In the summer there were heavy casualties in the Italian army and in December 1942 they began the
prime heavy defeats follows from withdrawn.
1943
The defeats both on the African front and on the Russian front caused a decline in Italy.
consent towards Fascism and Mussolini. In May, Tunis was taken, the last stronghold.
of the Italian royal army and a few weeks later also the islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria, giving
beginning to the boat in Sicily.
The military difficulties also struck Mussolini. On July 24, the Grand Council of Fascism met and the
The next morning, the Duce was ousted. Vittorio Emanuele III therefore decided to replace him at the head of
government with Pietro Badoglio. Just while he was in conversation with the king, Mussolini was arrested: the
The monarch had surrounded the building with Carabinieri, and the Duke was taken to Ponza, in prison.
Subsequently fu transferred aLa Maddalena so on the Gran Stone.
Meanwhile, the new head of government Badoglio announced the continuation of the war alongside the
Germans, but at the same time he began to negotiate the armistice with the Allies, which was signed
aCassibileil September 3 was made public on September 8, 1943. The following day the king and Badoglio
they fled from Rome, going to Apulia, under the protection of the English and Americans.
The Germans carried out Operation Achse and other minor operations, with which the German troops
they occupied the areas of Italy not yet liberated by the Allies, including Trentino-Alto Adige and the
province of Belluno, Udine, Gorizia, Trieste, Pula, Rijeka, Ljubljana within two operational zones
in which they exerted a sort of substantial sovereignty. 700,000 Italian soldiers, in the absence of orders
precisely, they were taken prisoner by the German army and deported to Germany.
On October 13, 1943, the Badoglio government declared war on Germany. Italy thus found itself divided.
in due: the Kingdom of the South at the side of the allies against Germany and the Italian Social Republic. To
In the north, the Italian Social Republic was established under German control and under the leadership
of Mussolini, who had been liberated on September 12 (Operation Oak). In a short time he
they constituted the first partisan formations, who fought against the fascists and the Germans. Some historians
they highlighted multiple aspects simultaneously present within the phenomenon of the Resistance:
patriotic war and liberation struggle against a foreign invader, spontaneous popular insurrection
"civil war" between anti-fascists and fascists, "class war" with revolutionary expectations mainly from
part of the socialist and communist partisan groups.[15]
In the South, the situation was slightly better as the Anglo-Americans allowed for a minimum of
freedom to the populations.
1944
On January 11, 1944, former hierarchs were executed in Verona after a dramatic public trial.
fascists Galeazzo Ciano, Emilio De Bono, Luciano Gottardi, Giovanni Marinelli, Carluccio Pareschi, a
following the death sentence that the court ruled against all those who had on July 25, 1943
the vote of no confidence in Mussolini in the agenda proposed by Dino Grandi to the Grand Council of
Fascism.
On January 22, 1944, the Anglo-Americans landed in Central Italy, in the area included
Anzio Nettuno. The attack aimed to outflank the German forces stationed on the Line.
Gustave to liberate Rome. The long battle that ensued is commonly known as the battle
of Anzio.
On March 24, the Germans carried out the massacre of the Ardeatine Caves in which 335 Italian civilians lost their lives,
as an act of retaliation for the bombing on Via Rasella carried out by GAP partisans against
The Police Regiment 'Bozen' took place the day before on Via Rasella. For its brutality, the high
number of victims, and for the tragic circumstances that led to its completion, it has become the event
symbol of Nazi reprisal during the occupation period. The 'Ardeatine Caves', ancient
Caves of pozzolana near the Ardeatina road have become a monument in memory of the events.
On June 5, 1944, the day after the liberation of Rome, Vittorio Emanuele III appointed the
son Lieutenant General of the Kingdom based on the agreements between the various political forces that form
the National Liberation Committee, which plans to "freeze" the institutional issue until
end of the conflict. Umberto, therefore, effectively exercises the prerogatives of the sovereign without however
to possess the dignity of a king, which remains with Vittorio Emanuele III, who stayed aside in Salerno.

1945
Thanks to the supplies obtained in the winter between 1944 and 1945 in spring, the Allies.
they were able to launch the offensive against the German army by breaking through the Gothic Line at multiple points
the allies at the liberation on April 21, 1945 in Bologna. The arrival of the allies in Milan was anticipated by the
partisan insurrection proclaimed by CLNil April 25, this date will then be chosen as a holiday
national to remember the liberation. The powers of the Axis Italy capitulated on April 29, 1945, and on the 2
In May, the German command signed in Caserta the surrender of its troops in Italy and by proxy also the
formal resignation of the departments of the RSI.

In 1945, during World War II, the province of Aosta and that of Imperia fell under
the occupation of France, which did not hide its annexationist plans: to unlock the
the situation was personally addressed by the United States President Harry Truman who ordered
peremptorily the withdrawal to General Charles de Gaulle, an order that was later executed, while the
The Italian government ordered the suppression of the old province of Aosta by legislative decree.
Deputy Lieutenant No. 545 of September 7, 1945, merging it back into the province of Turin.[16]In 1948, to
The Second World War ended, the former province of Aosta was reconstituted in the form of a region.
[17]
autonomous region with special status .

Epilogue of the conflict and cost of war

In May 1945, the Axis powers were defeated in Europe and the end of the war saw Italy in
critical conditions: the fighting and airstrikes had reduced many cities and towns to
piles of rubble, the main communication routes were interrupted, the territory was occupied by
Anglo-American troops. The situation in Dalmatia and in Venezia Giulia is particularly critical, which
they were occupied by the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, which arrested or
they executed hundreds of Italians; in Gorizia, Trieste, and Pola such atrocities ceased in the second decade
in June when the Yugoslav administration was replaced by that of the Anglo-Americans.
The number of Italians who died as a result of the war was very high: it is estimated to be between 415,000 (of which 330,000
military and 85,000 civilians)[18]443,000 deaths[19]estimating that the Italian population at the beginning of the conflict
in a population of 43,800,000 people, it is estimated that there is approximately one victim for every 100 Italians.

The consequences of the entry and defeat in the Second World War were established
peace treaties signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, with national territorial mutilations: Istria
theDalmaziacedute all emerging Republic Federal Socialist of Yugoslavia
the Dodecanese to Greece, the Colle di Briga and the Colle di Tenda to France, the Island of Saseno to Albania,
the payment of war damages to the Soviet Union and the loss of all colonial possessions in Africa.
From the end of the war until the 1950s, there was also the Istrian exodus during which more than the
90% of the Italian-speaking population (estimated to be between a minimum of 250,000 and a maximum
350,000 people,20abandoned the Istrian and Dalmatian territories, assigned to Yugoslavia: part of the
Exiles later emigrated to the Americas or Australia. More than 100,000 Italians were also repatriated.
from the colonial possessions in Libya and Ethiopia.

The republican Italy

The constituent years

After the end of the war, the monarchical form of the State began to be questioned. King Vittorio
Emanuele III tried to save the royal power by abdicating in favor of his son Umberto II, however on June 2
On 2 June 1946, a constitutional referendum sanctioned the end of the monarchy and the birth of the Italian Republic;
At the same time, delegates were elected to a Constituent Assembly, tasked with drafting a
new constitution. For the first time in Italy, women also had the right to vote.
On July 1st, Enrico De Nicola was appointed the first President of the Italian Republic. On the 25th
In June 1946, the work of the Constituent Assembly officially began with Giuseppe Saragat.
presidency; the new republican constitution came into effect on January 1, 1948.

In those years, Italy made the decisive choices that would determine its fate: led
by Alcide De Gasperi, who chaired a national unity government made up of the three anti-fascist parties
from the National Liberation Committee, Italy agreed to become part of the sphere of influence
Atlantic, pro-American and anti-communist, in contrast to the Soviet bloc. This positioning, however,
a political competition between the two major parties, the DC and the PCI. The latter will remain from then on
confined to the opposition due to ideological and financial ties with the totalitarian regime of the Union
Soviet[21]ties that would have caused a break in the event of his entry into the government
of the international alliance with the United States and the agreements of Yalta. Such a political arrangement will deprive
Moreover, Italy had a logic of alternation until the fall of the Berlin Wall,[22]generating an anomaly
compared to other Western democracies where communist parties enjoyed strength and support
smaller than in Italy.[23][24] This situation will degenerate into more or less associative practices.
hide[21]
Another typically Italian anomaly was the attitude of the Socialist Party (at that time...
called PSIUP), which, unlike what happened in other Western countries, decided to
to increasingly align with the positions of the communists, for fear of being supplanted by them
the hegemony over the working masses, thereby also accepting dependency on Moscow.[23]Some representatives
of the party, led by Saragat, disapproving of the choice to tie themselves to a totalitarian regime like the Union
Sovietica, they operated a split in January 1947, giving rise to the Workers' Socialist Party.
Italians, what in followed will become a party Social Democratic Italian.

First Republic
The years of centrism and reconstruction
After the third De Gasperi government fell on May 31, 1947 due to the exodus of socialists and
communists, a long phase of government began known as "centrism," because dominated by parties
exclusively placed in the center area of the political alignment. Italy became a great
worksite, also thanks to the aid from the Marshall Plan provided by the USA, which contributed to relaunch
the economy. At the same time, there were developments in politics and customs.

In view of the 1948 elections, tensions grew between the left-wing parties united in the Democratic Front.
Popular movements linked to the USSR, and the pro-Western political forces that found their main
representative in the DC of De Gasperi. Tension reached very high levels, for example in Milan
where, following the removal of Prefect Troilo, a procession of communist militants and former partisans
Led by the young representative of the PCI, Giancarlo Pajetta, occupied the Prefecture. The intervention of the leader
The national PCITogliatti contributed to calming the situation.25
Despite the competition from the Common Man's Front, the 1948 elections ultimately resulted in
the victory of the Christian Democracy, and the burning, unexpected defeat of the Popular Front: this
only took 30.98% of the votes, while the PSI and PCI in 1946 had reached - in total - the
39.61%. On the occasion of an attack in Togliatti on July 14, 1948, there were demonstrations in many cities.
Italians, who were calling for the dismissal of the De Gasperi government.Togliatti, however, did not die,
being saved by the doctors; a radio announcement he made himself was providential in which he invited the
communists to remain within the bounds of democratic legality.[28]
In 1949, at the urging of the United States, Italy was one of the first signatories of the Atlantic Pact and a member.
founder of NATO, an alliance between various Western European states as well as Canada and the United States
Unitary, opposed to the Soviet bloc: a decision that rekindled protests.
disasters in the Italian squares. Alongside the political agitation, Italy was nonetheless reconstructing itself. The
the strong predominance of Christian Democracy in the governments that succeeded each other, all led by De Gasperi, allowed for
important reforms such as the Housing Plan, with which the State facilitated the construction of 75,000
housing for workers.[29]The agrarian reform was then launched in 1950, considered one of the most important.
[30]
from the second post-war period, that enacted, through forced expropriation of large landowners, the distribution
of uncultivated lands to agricultural laborers, making them small entrepreneurs; on one hand, the reform
met with the claims of the farmers from the South, sometimes repressed with extreme violence like
in the massacre of Portella della Ginestra (May 1, 1947, eleven dead and twenty-seven injured) in other ways
significantly reduced the size of farms, effectively removing the possibility of
transform them into advanced entrepreneurial vehicles.[30]
Among the other significant actions of the centrist season was the implementation of a tax overhaul and the establishment
of the Cassa del Mezzogiorno to finance industrial initiatives aimed at economic development
the southern part of Italy. Industrial production accelerated and the first signs of consumerism appeared.
In 1954, the first television broadcasts of Rai will also begin, which led to an increase
dizzying sales of televisions.
The political tension between the DC and PCI, however, did not ease. The growth on the right of the Movement.
Italian Social, born from the ashes of the Italian Social Republic and the National Party
The monarch of shipowner Achille Lauro could also have taken away useful votes from the DC. Several
Christian Democratic representatives, including De Gasperi himself, decided to reject an alliance with these
forces, inspired by the twenty years of fascism, to form a single anti-communist bloc, to which
They viewed favorably representatives of the same Catholic Church. Thus, the Scelba law was enacted.
the restoration of the dissolved Fascist Party (even if never applied to the MSI in its
complex), and a new electoral law, nicknamed by the opponents 'fraud law', which provided for a
majority prize to the list or to the group of connected lists that had exceeded the threshold of 50% of
votes. In the 1953 elections, however, by a hair's breadth, the DC and the lists associated with it did not obtain the
absolute majority of votes, and the mechanism of the 'fraud law' did not trigger. It was a defeat.
which determined the end of De Gasperi's political experience.

Several rather weak governments followed (Pella, Fanfani, Scelba) that brought to light the need for a
overcoming centrism, now that the DC was struggling to govern alone with its minor allies of
center. It will increasingly look towards new scenarios that allow, for example, an opening to the socialists.
favor the new president of the Republic Giovanni Gronchi, an exponent of the Christian Democratic left,
backed by the entrepreneur Enrico Mattei, president of Agip, one of the most relevant personalities and
powerful figures of the Italian post-war scene, which gave a decisive impetus to the
development of the oil sector in Italy, opposing the dominance of the so-called seven sisters.
Significant upheavals occurred within the Communist Party following Stalin's death in 1953.
surrounded then by an aura of myth, his figure was heavily downplayed a few years later
when his ruthless face was revealed by his successor Khrushchev, who denounced his crimes and the
it is a shame, like purging the deportations in the gulags.[31]The news of the report was a trauma for the
communist world, which tried to deny the crimes, but had consequences in Hungary in 1956.
rebelled against the Soviet regime by declaring its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. The consequent
bloody repression of the Hungarian uprising by Soviet troops sparked waves of
anger and aversion to communism in Western countries. In the PCI, the first emergence of the
dissent, on the part of the intellectuals of the Manifesto of the 101, who were expelled from the party, while
Togliatti decided to defend the Soviet repression and to continue to side with the USSR.
In 1954, the London Memorandum was signed, by which the Free Territory of
Trieste was divided into two zones, one assigned to Italy and one to Yugoslavia. In 1955, Italy
it was also admitted to the United Nations.

The economic miracle

Between 1958 and 1963, the Italian economy, as well as society and families, underwent a radical change.
transformation: from a predominantly agricultural country, Italy became one of the seven great powers
industrial ideal of the world.

At that time, Italy excelled especially in two major high-technology sectors, namely microelectronics.
the chemistry, thanks to industrial groups like Olivetti and Montecatini, but also in pharmaceuticals,
in nuclear, in aeronautics, in telecommunications, sectors that will later disappear or come to an end
in the hands of foreign groups.

Important changes occurred in the diet and lives of women, thanks to the spread of
appliances, especially the washing machine and the refrigerator. Also cars and motorcycles
became accessible goods for a large number of Italians. Brands established themselves
comeFIAT, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Autobianchi, Gilera, Piaggio & C.
The rapid growth of Italy was contributed by the high availability of labor, due to a strong influx.
migration from the countryside to the cities and from the South to the North. This phenomenon caused in some ways
an increase in the economic gap between the North and the South. But it also contributed to growth.
external factor, namely the creation of the European Common Market (ECM), preceded by the creation
in 1951 of the European Coal and Steel Community and the establishment of the EEC in 1957, to which
Italy joined immediately. With the creation of the EMC, there was the opening of European borders to
trade, with the consequent increase in exports and European trade exchanges.

If the country emerged from the backwardness it was in, there were still negative aspects related to the
"economic miracle", like a tumultuous growth of urban centers. This remarkable development.
should also be due to the State's intervention in the economy through Keynesian-type policies,
possible outcomes mainly from the increase in public spending and the creation of companies
state participation. In this sense, the realization of some necessary infrastructures was fundamental.
For the development of the market: an important role was played by the IRI, a public body of fascist origin.
founded in 1933, which significantly intervened in the construction of the motorway network (with the
establishment of the Autostrade Company) and in strengthening the transport sector, not only
automotive, but also metropolitan, naval, and air (foundation of Alitalia).

Towards the end of centrism

With the exit of De Gasperi, the void left in the leadership of the DC was progressively
filled by two new personalities, Amintore Fanfani and Aldo Moro. Already in 1956, Fanfani considered the time ripe for
time for an alliance with the PSI, now that this party has decided to break ties with the PCI,
challenging the submission to the Soviet communist regime, especially on the occasion of the
Soviet repression of the Hungarian uprising. Thus moving towards a new phase, in the PSI
However, resistance to a possible alliance with the DC remained strong.
The elections of 1958 marked an important success for the parties making up the center-left.
envisioned by Fanfani. The latter then formed a government centered on the alliance
colPSDIdiGiuseppe Saragat, as a prelude to a future alliance with the socialists of Pietro Nenni.
Among the significant actions of the new government, focused on issues dear to the left, such as a policy
the Filo-araba or the support for EnidiEnrico Mattei, there was the abolition of brothels with the law
Merlin, and the launch of the new highway code to address the serious increase in accidents
automotive, due to the progressive mass motorization.
The launch of the center-left
In March 1959, however, within the Christian Democracy party, the Dorotei faction was emerging, which contested the
Fanfani's decisionism, and the fact that he concentrated three powers in his hands: that of president
of the DC, of the President of the Council, and of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Dorotei came to support in
Sicily the junta of the Christian Democrat Silvio Milazzo, supported by a convergence of missinists and communists,
against Fanfani's candidate Barbaro Lo Giudice. Finding himself isolated, with no more support at his
In a difficult attempt to reach an agreement with the PSI, Fanfani resigned from all three positions.

In 1960, the President of the Republic Giovanni Gronchi entrusted Fernando Tambroni with the government.
which should have finally launched the new center-left course. In front of yet another
the procrastination of Nenni and the socialist base, however, Tambroni decided to seek votes elsewhere.
to whom he needed, and he found them in the Italian Social Movement, to which he granted in exchange his
"customs clearance". The Tambroni government received several accusations from the opposition in this way.
neofascism, but it was only a few months later, on the occasion of a congress of the MSI to be held
in Genoa, the gold medal city of the Resistance, where heavy protests soon broke out
and to other Italian cities. On these occasions, there will be frequent use of firearms.
part of the law enforcement, with several deaths and numerous injuries among the demonstrators.[33]
Following the serious events in Genoa, Tambroni resigned; he was succeeded by Fanfani who ...
this time he found the Socialists more willing to ally with the DC, recalling the recent experience
elapsed, from which the MSI will undergo isolation from the so-called constitutional arc that will last
at least until the mid-eighties. [34]. Thus, a government was established that relied on a
external support of the PSI, defined by Aldo Moro as 'parallel convergences', which will last almost three
years. Among his notable acts was the nationalization of electricity (which in 1964 will lead to the
birth of Enel) wanted by the left forces but opposed by the PLI and the companies
private Edison Adriatic Electricity Company. There was then the extension of compulsory education up to the age of 14.
years with the creation of the unified middle school, to prevent school dropout among young people
started work early.

The following elections of 1963 saw a weakening of the DC and the PSI, and a simultaneous
strengthening of the PCI on the left, which had strongly contested their alliance, and of the PLI on the right,
who had accused the government of causing price increases and inflating public spending. Fanfani
forced to withdraw from the political scene, while a 'beach' government was being formed for the summer, awaiting
of new developments.
It was in the autumn of that year that the terrible disaster of Vajont occurred, in the Veneto valley,
caused the death of about 2000 people.[36]
In December 1963, Aldo Moro was tasked with forming the first real center-left government.
"organic," that is, with the actual entry of the socialists into the government. It was a launch that both the DC and the PSI
they arrived exhausted from years of negotiations, congresses, and hesitations. Even on this occasion, they did not
The discontent within both parties faded, which exploded a few months later, in May 1964.
when the Moro government fell over a matter concerning public funding for schools
Catholics. But already the Minister of Finance, the Christian Democrat Emilio Colombo, had criticized Moro for
an excessive willingness to concede to certain reforms hoped for by the socialists, such as the one on
Regions and urban planning, on which Nenni refused to concede, although the PSI had put in
minority its most radical exponent, Riccardo Lombardi.

In the face of the deadlock that had arisen, President Segni summoned the commander.
of the Carabinieri Giovanni De Lorenzo, who later participated in a meeting with Moro and
some leaders of the DC. A few years later, there will be talk of the attempt, or rather the threat, of
to implement a subversive plan, known as the 'Piano Solo', to bring the left back in line, and
to convince her to soften her positions. Nenni, probably informed about this
possibility, decided to bring the PSI back into the government; Lombardi left the leadership of the PSI, and his man
Giolitti was no longer confirmed as minister in the new government, whose course will be in the
the years to come will be much more moderate than the previous one, and from whose political agenda reforms will be removed
voluted by the socialists. There was also a split in the PSI by the more extremist component of
party, which gave rise to PSIUP.
In 1966, however, the PSI, whose leadership had passed from Nenni to Francesco De Martino, after having
contributed to elect Saragat president of the Republic, will merge with the PSDI, healing the
the split of Saragat that occurred in 1946, thus forming the Unified Socialist Party.
The merger will be revealed to be a failure in the 1968 elections, after which the two parties will return to
divide.

The sixty-eight and the protest

After the death of Togliatti in 1964, who had led the Communist Party along what was then
define 'dual track' (of democratic legality on one side, and loyalty to the Soviet Union
from the other)[37]the extreme left experienced a period of unrest. In 1966, the first clash took place 'at the
"sunlight" of a PCI congress, between the "right" wing of Giorgio Amendola and the "left" wing
diPietro Ingrao; the compromise was found in assigning the leadership to a figure of
mediation, Luigi Longo. But to the left of the PCI itself, movements were starting to form.
spontaneous, who protested against the American war in Vietnam, expressing solidarity with the Viet Cong,
they sympathized with the Cinemaist who criticized what he called the "bourgeois" degeneration of the USSR, and
they idealized the Cuban revolution of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. These groups gathered around
worker's orientation magazines.

In the sixties, it was nonetheless the social stratification of the entire Italian population that was
changed after the economic boom: the urbanization created by internal migration flows had increased
the concentration of the population, there was now a middle class and a
prototype of the average Italian. The openness to lifestyles and international musical phenomena, especially
among the young, it led to the emergence of the so-called 'longhairs' as early as 1965. They were increasingly viewed with
mistrust, the new Italian Beat Generation nevertheless gained the sympathy of public opinion in
on the occasion of the terrible flood in Florence on November 4, 1966, when students came from all over
In Italy, the 'mud angels' were called to provide assistance.

The changes in the mindset of these youth groups exploded in 1968, the year that saw Italy...
radically transform on a cultural and social level, following the improved living conditions
due to the economic boom of the previous years, and the rise of radical movements, especially
far-left. The protests started from a student contestation of the methods
teaching in universities, deemed 'authoritarian', and will extend until they merge with the movements
of workers. The ideological basis of these uprisings was mainly rooted in 'third-worldism',
but in Italy,
Unlike other Western liberal democracies, the protests of '68 will increasingly be
hegemony by the communist ideology.[38][39] They were groups mostly independent from the parties, emerged
from the assemblies, the collectives, and the occupations, which portrayed Americans as the new 'Nazis',
who even came to override the PCI on the left, considering filo-Sovietism almost a betrayal.
of authentic Marxism, of which they instead considered the Chinese dictator Mao Tse-tung a worthy interpreter,
they contested the roots of the state and the bourgeois institutions. The intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini pointed out
however, how the social base of the Italian protesters was made up, at least at the beginning, precisely by
[40]
student of the petty bourgeois since they are proletarians.

Among the new extra-parliamentary far-left groups, which all almost had revolutionary intentions,
he emerged the Union of Italian Communists, sympathizer of Mao Tse-tung; Workers' Power of Oreste
Scalzone, who saw in the workers the driving force of the revolution; Student Movement of
Leninist orientation; and Lotta Continua by Adriano Sofri, focused on more general social issues.
dedicated to spreading so-called "counter-information".
Among the parties, the one that was able to take the most advantage of the protest was certainly the PCI, which
gained ground at the expense of the socialists. However, that same year there was a counter-current Sixty-Eight,
I don't know how the Prague Spring, that is, the attempt of Czechoslovakia led by
reformist Alexander Dubček to escape the Soviet yoke, an attempt brutally suppressed by the Army
Rossa. The PCI, whose leadership was experiencing the succession of Luigi Longo, who resigned for reasons of
Hello, with Enrico Berlinguer, a new figure of mediation between the two souls of the party, this time criticized and
condemned the crimes of Moscow (unlike in 1956 during the invasion of Hungary), but without any however
to reach an actual break. Berlinguer indeed strengthened even further the ties of the PCI with the USSR, in order not to
to destroy the Soviet myth that fed the party base, considering the invasion of
Czechoslovakia an error to be put in parentheses. This attitude sparked criticism from a large
group of communist intellectuals, gathered around the magazine Il manifesto, including Rossana Rossanda[41]what
they were expelled from the party as had already happened on other occasions.[42]

Even in the Catholic world, there was growing ferment, particularly calling for the DC to open up to the new.
social claims, or to solidarize with the Viet Cong, and to distance themselves from the USA. After the
heavy defeat suffered by the Unified Socialist Party in 1968, it was still considered exhausted
the center-left experience led by Aldo Moro, who left the field to the Christian Democrat Mariano
Rumor, leader Doroteo, who will lead five governments, always together with the socialists.

The growth of social conflict had meanwhile led to the so-called hot autumn of late 1969,
when the student movements of '68 merged with the uprisings and protests of the world
worker. For the first time since 1946, the three trade union organizations CGIL, CISL, UIL came together.
the movement achieved various successes such as the 40-hour work week, regulations on overtime, the
review of the pension system, the right to assembly; in 1970 the statute of the
workers. In the same year it was approved by a cross-party majority, excluding the DC and
from MSI, also the divorce law, supported in particular by the emerging radical leader Marco
Pannella, who will increasingly stand out for his battles on civil rights. Another result at
what was reached on the wave of social movements was the establishment, also in 1970, of the Regions as entities
autonomy, a reform that involved their legislative capacity and thus the implicit transfer of
notoriously "red" regions, particularly Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, and Umbria, leading the
communists.

The seventies
In the seventies, some of the numerous political movements that had emerged in the previous years became more extreme.
and degenerated into terrorism, giving life in particular to the Red Brigades, accompanied by
that is made up of elite neo-fascist groups such as iNAR.
Although the Italian Sixty-Eight had been dominated by the extreme left, they had participated
also some far-right fringe groups; the new decade now opened with the so-called 'three-year period of
right[43]or with a shift of the entire political landscape towards the conservative side, due to both
to a new protagonism of the MSI led by Giorgio Almirante, as well as the emergence of the so-called
"silent majority", made up of representatives of the moderate class intimidated by the protests of the
left, which presented itself with the motto 'We are the Italy that works, produces, and pays taxes.'[44]

The facts of Reggio

Already after the first regional elections, in July 1970, the revolt of Reggio Calabria broke out, due to the
decision of the center-left government to place the capital of the newly established region in Catanzaro.
The uprising was led by the missino Ciccio Franco, a unionist of the CISNAL, who relaunched
the expression "boia chi molla!" of Mussolini's memory. After three months of violent clashes, which saw the
the city of Reggio besieged by the army, the unrest was suppressed, but in 1972 the MSI will become the first party
of Calabria.
Still in 1971, the MSI proved to be decisive in the election of the new president of
Republic Giovanni Leone, although the votes from the MSI had not been explicitly requested.
early elections of the following year, the MSI reached its historical high until then, thanks to
also with the Monarchists. Due to the modest results of the PSI, a
the Andreotti-Malagodi government which also marked a temporary interruption of the center-left with a
return to the centrist formula, the exclusion of the socialists, and an organic entry of the liberals
government coalition.

On the night of December 8, 1970, the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior was occupied by formations.
paramilitary forces of the National Front led by Prince Junio Valerio Borghese, a former charismatic figure
of the Italian Social Republic, in an attempt to carry out a coup d'état but the action was cancelled
by the same Borghese while it was being executed, under unclear circumstances[45]The opinion
the public was informed of the failed coup d'état (called 'Borghese Coup') only three months later
the event
The news was, however, fitting into an alarming atmosphere of attacks, which characterized those
years said therefore "of lead", attacks inaugurated by the explosion of a bomb in Piazza Fontana at
Milan on December 12, 1969, in which seventeen people were killed. For the massacre, which remained without
guilty, the anarchist Pietro Valpreda was indicted, and a friend of his, Giuseppe Pinelli, who died in
mysterious circumstances falling from a window of the police headquarters where he was being interrogated; the Movement
Student, hypothesizing conspiracies and dark plots, accused Commissioner Luigi of murder.
Calabresi was conducting the interrogation. Calabresi, who was also a mild person and close to Pinelli.
from friendship ties, he became the target of a relentless campaign of denouncement by
intellectuals and leftist extremists, until he was killed on May 17, 1972. For his murder there will be
The members of Lotta Continua Adriano Sofri, Ovidio Bompressi, and Giorgio have been definitively convicted.
Pietrostefani.
The bombing of Piazza Fontana also marked the beginning of the so-called 'strategy of tension'.
with which the press has indicated a dark plan of targeted attacks aimed at sowing terror among the
population to prepare the ground for a far-right coup, in which it was hypothesized that they were
involved elements of secret services and armed forces linked to neofascist groups[45]in this strategy
they also frame other sadly famous attacks, such as the Peteano massacre of 1972,
the attack on the Milan police headquarters by the anarchist Bertoli (later revealed to be an agent of
piano to stay-behind Gladio) in 1973, the Italicus train attack in 1974 and, in the same year, the massacre of
Piazza della Loggia in Brescia during a trade union demonstration, all attributed to groups
neofascists47In August 1970, the first leaflets appeared in front of the SIEMENS in Milan.
firmaBR, a far-left terrorist group, initially limited itself to demonstrative actions such as thefts and
fires, but as the years went by it became increasingly violent, reaching the point of kidnapping, injuring and
to kill personalities in the cultural and political world deemed "reactionary." The political left, especially
the communist one, at first could not admit that the BR were a branch coming from the
own file, hypothesizing dark plots of the State and therefore speaking of Brigades
"so-called" reds.[48]Even when their revolutionary leftist matrix became evident, in
In the environments of the PCI, there were those who maintained, despite the official condemnations of the party, an attitude
indulgent towards them speaking of "comrades who make mistakes".[48][49] In the same environments it will evoke.
scalpore, in March 1978, an article by Rossana Rossanda that clearly denounced
the belonging of the BR to the "family album" of the PCI.[50]

The Communist Party, meanwhile, was experiencing a rapid electoral growth, while the DC was back
under Fanfani's leadership, suffered in 1974 the defeat in the referendum for the repeal of the divorce law.
it was a success for the feminist movement, which will also start fighting for
the legalization of abortion that it will manage to obtain in 1978. Among the new trends, they began to
to spread among young people alternative cultures and the trend of mass gatherings. In the 1970s, the
The economic growth that had led to the boom came to a halt, a recession began, aggravated by the crisis.
oil crisis of 1973 due to the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the Arab world. This led to a
austerity period characterized by the first 'walking Sundays' due to the ban on circulation of
vehicles. Social distress increased and inflation grew frighteningly. There were also
first environmental disasters, such as that of Seveso, a municipality in the province of Milan affected by a
cloud didiossinanel July 1976, while a few months earlier a large area of Friuli had been hit by
a non-violent earthquake that caused 989 victims and enormous destruction.
On the political front, a deadlock was emerging due to the erosion of consensus.
the ruling majority of the center-left, which led to the early end of two legislatures. It then began to
give substance to the idea of an uncompromising historical agreement among the main political forces in the country, which originates from the DC
it extended to the PCI, which had grown enormously in the regional elections of 1975 and whose 'frozen votes' do not
they could now be further confined to the opposition. To remove the prejudice that
prevented his party from participating in the government of the country, Berlinguer made a historic statement in 1976
interview with Corriere della Sera in which he seemed to distance himself from the USSR, stating that he did not
wants to take more sides in case of conflict with NATO.It was like this that in that same year,
after the PSI caused the last center-left government to fall, following early elections
the governments of abstention or national unity began, led by Giulio Andreotti, single-colored
Christian Democrats who relied indirectly on the abstention of PSI, PCI, PLI, and PSDI, but experienced by
country as if all parties contributed to it.
However, the historic compromise will lead the PCI to leave several sectors uncovered by its own left.
they no longer felt represented by that party, opposed to the idea of compromises with the forces
"bourgeois". In particular, in 1977 there was a resurgence of unrest and street movements, with clashes.
much more ferocious than those of '68: began with an assault on the podium of Luciano Lama, leader
CGIL, which was being criticized for a policy line considered too soft, the violence escalated into
armed actions with Molotov cocktail throws, killings of both police officers and protesters, assaults on the MSI offices,
and the aftermath like the massacre of Acca Larentia. The BR also increased the bombings,
subordinating to the order of their leader, Mario Moretti, to 'aim at the heart of the state.'
Berlinguer, believing that the PCI was paying more than anyone for its support of the Andreotti government with
a loss of consensus, pressured for greater involvement. It was then that one had
the most striking episode when on March 16, 1978, the BR kidnapped the President of Democracy
Cristiana Aldo Moro, one of the biggest supporters of the historic compromise, in the bloody ambush of
through Fani in Rome, just at the moment when the appointed Prime Minister, Giulio Andreotti,
was trying to establish the first government with the direct votes of the PCI. The political front then divided
among the proponents of negotiations with the BR (especially the PSI), and the supporters of firmness (Christian Democrats and
communists), convinced that the State should not yield to their blackmail; in the end, the latter prevailed.
following the murder of Moro, whose corpse was found on Via Caetani, halfway between the offices
of the DC and the PCI, plunged the entire Italy into turmoil and chaos. The Minister of the Interior Cossiga, who is
was opposed to negotiations with the BR, was forced to resign. Even the president of the Republic
Leone was accused of not having done enough to save Moro; subjected among other things to a campaign
media coverage from Espresso and the Radical Party who believed he was involved in the scandal
Lockheed, which during those years was involved in several judicial investigations,[52]Leone resigned from there
little, despite his estrangement from the facts[53] recognized twenty years later by the same
radicals.[54]The murder of Moro effectively accelerated the end of the national solidarity governments, leading to
early termination of the legislature in 1979, leaving in the Italian Republic the gloomy sensation of
to embark on an inexorable decline.

The eighties
The heavy ideological climate of the seventies, which had led to a dizzying increase of
social and political tension began to dissolve in the early eighties, during which the
so-called turning point of the 'reflux'. [55]Already in the autumn of 1980, the march of forty thousand in Turin took place.
the emergence of the existence of a "silent majority" that opposed the protests of the unions
and to the clamor of social clashes of the previous decade. There was thus a return of people from
private squares; the era of commercial television began, coupled with a surge in advertising and a
increase in consumption. The Carnival of Venice was reborn; the citizens' disaffection grew for the
politics, but increased the sense of optimism and social well-being.[56]

At the political level, there was a decline in the power of the trade unions and the Italian Communist Party, parallel to
the rise of Bettino Craxi within the ranks of the Italian Socialist Party, called in 1976 to revive the
emerged from the party that was then at its historical lows, caught in the grip of the compromise attempt
[57]
historical background of the DC and the PCI. Already in 1978, Craxi had managed to have elected president of the
RepublicSandro Pertini, a man of the old guard of the PSI, who during his term proposed
a more friendly and calm rapprochement of citizens with institutions, promoting for example
meetings and visits of school groups at the Quirinal Palace. For his charisma, his straightforward way of doing things
It is ironic, his affection for children, Pertini will be remembered as the most loved president by Italians.
The early eighties, however, were still permeated by a certain turbulence. The discovery, for example,
the Masonic lodge P2 shed new light on many of the Italian mysteries; the president of
Arnaldo Forlanisi resigned due to the scandal that followed. In the summer of 1980, the raid took place.
Ustica (an airplane disaster with still unclear outlines) and the Bologna massacre, which caused 85 victims.
and over two hundred injured, while in 1981 an attack on Pope John Paul II, a Pole, whose election to
the papal throne was poorly viewed in Eastern Europe; another dramatic event was certainly
The earthquake that struck Irpinia and numerous areas of Southern Italy in 1980, causing 2914 deaths and a significant amount of damage.
highest number of injured and homeless[62]. In football, a betting scandal broke out.
notable significance, which saw the conviction of numerous football players and the penalization of some important
club teams.
Among the significant sporting events, however, in 1982 there was the unexpected victory of the Italian national team.
soccer at the World Cup in Spain, where one of the main defendants in the scandal was a key figure,
footballer Paolo Rossi.

For the first time, a politician not belonging to the ranks of the Christian Democracy party took the lead of the government.
that is Spadolini of the PRI. It was the prelude to Bettino Craxi's call to Palazzo Chigi, appointed by Pertini.
The year after, in 1983. Craxi's government will be remembered as the longest-lasting among all of them.
that until then had succeeded: it was based on an alliance between the PSI and the DC and
other lesser forces.
Among his significant acts, Craxi signed an additional protocol with the Vatican in February 1984.
Lateran Pact signed in 1929, which reaffirmed the sovereignty and mutual independence of the State
and the Church.

On the economic front, Craxi proposed to combat the heavy inflation that had been dragging on since
the seventies, a reason for stagnation and slow growth, identifying the main cause in the scale
mobile, that is, in the mechanism of automatic adjustment of wages to the increase in the cost of living.
The abolition by decree of certain points of the wage index triggered protests from both the CGIL (which broke
the unity with the other trade union acronyms)of the Italian Communist Party, who openly defied Craxi
they proclaimed heavy strikes. Since Craxi did not back down, they managed to have called
a referendum to challenge its new law on the matter. The referendum held in June
1985 video however the victory of Craxi and the defeat of the PCI, which, even following the death of its
leader Enrico Berlinguer arrived a year earlier, from then on he began a slow and inexorable loss of
consents.
On the foreign front, Craxi strengthened Italy's ties with the Atlantic Pact, intensifying the
relations with America under Ronald Reagan, but on the other hand maintained a pro-Arab policy on the issue
Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, as during the Sigonella crisis of 1985. Even the following year,
during the American bombing of Tripoli which was followed by a Libyan retaliation with missile launches
in Lampedusa, Craxi proved indulgent towards Mu'ammar Gaddafi, showing disapproval
rather the American attack and its involvement on Italian soil.[64]
For the rest, however, Craxi's Italy supported the American project for a missile shield, in response
all the threats of the communist-Soviet world became increasingly pressing, a project to which they had
aligning also the other Western countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain, and
which will prove decisive in putting the strategic and financial apparatus of the Soviet Union in crisis,
accelerating the fall and the turning point of Mikhail Gorbachev. The PCI, on the other hand, during the installation
the missile base in Comiso did not fail to align itself with the Soviet regime.[65]

In the second half of the 1980s, there was a significant growth of the Italian gross domestic product.
thanks to various factors such as the decrease in inflation and the introduction of some elements of free market,
which led Italy to establish itself as the fifth economic power in the world.67It imposes Made in Italy,
dragged by fashion[68] and from consumer food products.[69] From a country of emigrants, Italy found itself.
land of immigrants, coming mainly from the 'non-EU' countries of the third world. [70]In 1987,
In the meantime, the DC declared itself no longer willing to support Craxi, forcing him to leave the
presidency of the Council to Giovanni Goria, a man of Ciriaco De Mita: he, an opponent of Craxi, was
expression of the left wing of the DC is in favor of the old project of consociative alliance between DC and
PCI.In the face of the danger of losing weight and visibility in the distribution of positions of power,
which saw, for example, the assignment of the three public television networks not only to the two parties of
majority, but also to the PCI, Craxi created a movement policy in the squares, antagonistic to
DC. Among the results of these initiatives were the 1987 referendums in favor of civil penalties for
magistrates (subsequently nullified by the Vassalli law)[72]and that on "nuclear" that received much
consensus on the emotional wave of the Chernobyl disaster decreeing the abolition of energy production
nuclear in Italy.
When in 1988 De Mita succeeded Goria at the helm of the government, Craxi took advantage of the
dissatisfaction from various sectors of the Christian democratic right, forming a solid alliance against him
together with Andreottie Forlani, renamed C.A.F. (from the initials of the surnames of the three protagonists), which
it anticipated their alternation in government with a programmatic exclusion of the far left.

The transition to the 1990s

The CAF soon forced De Mita to resign, who was replaced in 1989 by Andreotti. The solidity
the Craxi-Andreotti-Forlani pact, however, aroused a feeling of stalemate, giving the impression
that the politicians made agreements with each other independent of the rest of the country. Nevertheless, from
under the Andreotti government, some important economic reforms were initiated, such as opening up to
private investments in universities,[73] and above all the adherence to the Maastricht Treaty, which in 1992
would have opened the Italian market to international free competition, making the system obsolete
an economy based on consociationalism and state participation on which it had relied until then.[74]
The fall of the Berlin Wall, which took on the ideal significance of a collapse of the alternative to capitalism,
led to an acceleration of political events. With the end of the cold war, many voters fell.
moderate the reasons for voting Christian Democrat in an anti-communist function; thus began to grow
new post-ideological movements like the Northern League that challenged party rule. The PCI decided the
self-dissolution, implementing an ideological revision that will extend through various stages until the
1998. With the crisis of traditional parties, the substitute role of the president also grew.
Republic of Francesco Cossiga, who increasingly began to intervene in political life with public
provocative statements and positions deliberately aimed at stimulating change.
He self-reported to the judiciary as a political contact of Gladio, warning that the end of the
the Cold War and the opposition between the two international blocs would have determined the
thawing
due to the fifty-year presence within it of the largest communist party in the West.[75]
The ideological revision of the PCI, which chose to call itself the Democratic Party of the Left, did not
However, it led to a rapprochement with the PSI, due to the troubled relationship between the two parties that had been.
that wore on throughout the eighties;[76]it was still far from the construction of a
alternative left bloc to the Christian Democracy, and with it the possibility of breaking out of the consociative paralysis of
system. On the occasion of the Gulf War of 1991, which Italy participated in with its own military forces
under the aegis of the UN, the newly formed PDS positioned itself against the war in contrast to the orientation of the
international community, thus attracting criticism from Craxi for having implemented a pro-
little credible western.[77]
In June of the same year, meanwhile, the emerging leader Mariotto Segni proposed a referendum for
abolish proportional voting, considered one of the causes of the paralysis of the system: the first step in this
the proposal for the introduction of a single preference, which met with considerable success
referendum of June 1991.

Clean hands and the season of mafia massacres

In view of the elections of April 1992, the overall partisan rate increased significantly, especially in
media level, where in the network controlled by the Pds the broadcasts conducted by Michele Santoro, to which they
those of Gad Lerner gained more and more success in presenting a country in ruins.
and in launching unprecedented attacks on the party.
There was also a growing involvement in the political arena by various sectors of the
civil society, like the head of state, the press, Confindustria, and especially the judiciary,
remained neutral until then.[78]
In 1992, the investigations by the Milanese judiciary, known as 'Clean Hands', into the rampant phenomenon
the kickbacks (from which the scandal known as 'Tangentopoli' gets its name) led to the discovery
of numerous irregular intertwining between politics and business,[79]originating from pathological unconsociativism.[80]They were
almost exclusively affected were representatives of the pentapartite, that is, the ruling political forces that until
So they had been in government. This is why Craxi, one of the main defendants, in a speech at
Parliament also implicated the opposition parties, declaring anyone who would have been "perjured".
denied having resorted to illegal party financing.[81][82]
On the economic front, Italy experienced a heavy financial crisis: in 1992 the lira was devalued.
and exited the European monetary system after exceeding the allowable fluctuation margins. It was growing
also the public debt, which has been steadily increasing since the seventies due to the staggering rise
public spending (almost doubled since 1960)[83]caused by a burdensome welfare state system
from the implementation of Keynesian policies to support production.[84][85] If in the seventies the weight
the debt had been mitigated by strong inflation, in the eighties it had gone out of control due to
the completed separation between the Ministry of Treasury and the Bank of Italy, reaching 121.8%
in 1994,[86]fed by the vicious circle of spending on passive interest on government bonds.
In the political elections of April 5, 1992, the Christian Democracy obtained its historical low of votes while maintaining the
relative majority, PDS and PRC received many fewer votes than the old PCI, while the
other governing parties remained almost stable in preferences; the Northern League achieved a result
surprising by winning in numerous northern constituencies and achieving almost 9% at the national level.
Also, the iVerdiri team managed to get some of their candidates elected: the consequence of the vote was a
parliament very fragmented and without a strong majority. When, in May, the Chambers
as soon as gathered, they were called to vote for the new President of the Republic, the voting took place in
a climate of total chaos (during those same days the Capaci massacre took place, in which were killed the
Judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo, and three bodyguards) was initially undermined
the candidacy of Arnaldo Forlani, then that of Giulio Andreotti. In the end, the Christian Democrat Oscar was elected.
Luigi Scalfaro, who refused to grant positions to politicians close to the accused: Craxi, who aspired to
return to the presidency of the Council, he had to resign in favor of Giuliano Amato, who launched a
very burdensome financial plan, called 'tears and blood', while the forces of the pentapartite were collapsing under
the blows of the "Clean Hands" investigation, which led to the resignation of then ministers Claudio
Martelli (PSI), Francesco De Lorenzo (PLI), Giovanni Goria (DC) and Franco Reviglio (PSI), reached
from the notices of guarantee. Following the massacre in via d'Amelio (July 19), in which were killed the
Judge Paolo Borsellino and five escort agents, the Amato government was forced to give the go-ahead
the "Operation Sicilian Vespers," with which 7000 men of the Army were sent to Sicily to guard
the sensitive objectives, and also ordered the bulk transfer of about one hundred mafia detainees to
Asinara Prison and Pianosa to isolate them from the outside world[89].
On April 18, 1993, new referendums promoted by Mario Segni, building on the success of 1991, marked the end
of the proportional system and the introduction of the Mattarellum, that is, a voting system largely based on majority.
which pushed the parties to merge into coalitions would have marked the end of an era. In the face of the new
Amato resigned and a government led for the first time not by a
parliamentary but by an independent technician, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who would have guided the system.
verse the second republic. In the May-July 1993 some attacks
Dynamite attacks in Rome, Florence, and Milan caused a total of ten deaths, about a hundred injured, and numerous...
damage to the Italian artistic heritage: this strategy was part of the fierce response of Cosa
Our application of new legislative tools for the fight against the mafia (article 41 bis, law
collaborators of justice[90]At the same time, the 'SISDE scandal' also broke out, concerning the
management of reserved funds, which came to involve the President of the Republic Oscar Luigi
Scalfaro[91].

Second Republic
The new political landscape
In the political void of the moderate camp, resulting from the disintegration of the previous order,
a new party founded by entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi, Forza Italia, which aimed to be
an alternative to the old system while incorporating some of its key players, and achieved significant success
In the 1994 elections, with two distinct coalitions, in the North with the Northern League, and in the Central-South with the MSI,
about to dissolve into the National Alliance. The coalition also included the CCD.
minor parties. The two coalitions obtained an absolute majority in the Chamber, but not in the Senate.