Those of you who visit Italy with some frequency, and those of us who live here, have noted a slow but sure change taking place during the last 10 years or so: Italians are increasingly starting to make use of their national flag, Il Tricolore. In Italian public and private schools, children now learn the national anthem Fratelli d’Italia by heart. While such “ordinary” celebrations of one’s nation are relatively normal in many countries around the World, in Italy most people simply did not know their national anthem until a few years ago. And private citizens would, until very recently, not fly their national flag from their balconies – if only because nobody owned such a flag! Now many do. While Italy is known for having a ‘weak’ national identity the fact of the matter is that ‘nation’ is indeed very much talked about in Italy today. So what has caused this change in attitude?
In his recent article, co-authored with Italian historian, Rosario Forlenza (NYU), Professor Bjørn Thomassen from the International Relations Department tries to answer exactly that question. The article, “Re-narrating Italy, reinventing the nation: assessing the presidency of Ciampi” (current issue of Journal of Modern Italian Studies) explains how a fundamental change took place in the bespeaking of the Italian nation during the presidency of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, 1999-2006. Ciampi gave Italians a new language to speak and think with. This language has become tied to a series of political rituals and re-invented memory practices, giving new life to both popular and official national symbolism.
The Journal of Modern Italian Studies (JMIS) is one of the leading English language forums for debate and discussion on modern Italy.
Links: Taylor & Francis Online.
