L’identità mancata: la repubblica italiana fra memoria e narrazione

Founded after the Second World War, the Italian republican system of government has substantially failed in fostering among the Italian citizens a sound national identity. Actually, it is generally agreed that the lack of national identity dates back to earlier times: Paolo Colombo’s essay retraces the historical reasons of the Italian troubles in building a common identity and points at the main critical arguments on the values that should have been placed at the foundation of the Republic (Resistance, Anti-Fascism, Constitution…). It looks like, among the youngest generations, these values are increasingly weak and faltering with unavoidable social and cultural consequences. With particular reference to the latter issue, Paolo Colombo’s essay wonders whether the downfall of the republican values may be due to the ‘historical narrative’ chosen throughout the history of the Italian Republic and points at the 70’s as an emblematic decade. The essay argues that a possible way to fight against both the evident alienation of young generations from the historical memory as well as the problems related to the Italian national identity may be found in new ways of building a social and historical narrative of the Italian past.