Tra avanguardia e Accademia. La pubblicistica futurista nei primi anni Trenta

This publication focuses its attention on the second historical phase of futurism, aiming at understanding the development of the first italian avant-garde since its heroic period and to check whether Marinetti and his followers underwent a process of enrolment and integration into the Fascist regime or they kept unchanged their revolutionary charge and their project for a “global ideology”. In such perspective the volume’s title refers to the discrepancy between the well known anti-academic aim of the futuristic movement and Marinetti’s acceptance of his appointment into Accademia d’Italia (march 18th 1929), assumed as the starting point of this work. This research specifically explores the periodical publishing subsequent to 1929, still lacking of a deeper overall study; as a matter of fact the journal is a very suitable tool for futurist artists, as it secures higher visibility and larger communication power than most other media and it allows public’s involvement by mean of initiatives in different disciplines (figurative arts, theatre, poetry, cuisine, fashion...). This volume makes therefore good use of the reading of several papers and comments published on futurist reviews (not always so easy to find) to outline a profile of the avant-garde in all the disciplines it explored, convinced that it is impossible to split the ideology of a movement intended to renew all the arts and fields of human life. In a wide overview of the print media used by futurism during its life, this research examines publications such as «Futurismo» from Rome (1932-1933), «Nuovo futurismo» from Milan (1934), «Stile futurista» from Turin (1934-1935), already advised by Claudia Salaris among the most interesting journals, but also shorter-life journals, like «La Città futurista» from Turin, «Dinamo futurista» from Rovereto, «La Terra dei vivi» from La Spezia, that revealed rich in novelties and original proposals. Relevant and unavoidable notices are then given on other reviews (e.g. «± 2000» from Bari and «Elettroni» from Naples), interesting to document the ability of futurism to penetrate the Italian territory in a variety of large and smaller centers. The whole book spread light on the persistence, in the futurist movement, of an internal debate that shows its liveliness and the existence of pretty different, free and well distinct positions in multiple centers. As a matter of fact the second futurism, like the earlier one, is marked by a deep diffusion in the peninsula’s regions and towns and by the birth of many local groups. In comparison with this evident localism, the movement retains most of its international opening and keeps its multi-disciplinary tendency and its will to revolutionize each field of every day’s life unchanged. It’s just for this width of horizons and variety of interests that the avant-garde will continue influencing some of the crucial aspects of the culture and the society of the second half of twentieth century.