Where Monsters Are Born

Roundtable: Neofascism and the Memory of Italy’s Years of Lead

This roundtable brings together Simone Brioni (Stony Brook) and @amycking.bsky.social (Bristol), in conversation with John Foot (Bristol), to examine the legacy and memory of 1970s political violence and massacres in Italy.
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#Italy #NeoFascism #Rome

I wrote a review of the digital archive, wheremonstersareborn.com, which presents a geography of fascist street propaganda in Italy (by @brianjgriffith.bsky.social and @amycking.bsky.social)

online.ucpress.edu/tph/article-...

Where Monsters Are Born has received its second scholarly review in The Public Historian (University of California Press)! See the URL below.

On this day in 2018, CasaPound Italy hosted a rally in Trieste commemorating Italy’s “victory” in WWI. This poster, which was distributed to promote the group's rally, draws upon Roman symbology, including the goddess Victoria and a laurel wreath.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/items/show/10

This poster commemorates the 2012 death of Pino Rauti, a neo-fascist "patriarch" who disseminated far-right ideas and values, and promoted political violence as a legitimate method for pursuing socio-political change in post-World War II Italy.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/items/show/3

Collected on this day in 2018, this Youth Front poster, which features a young man holding aloft an ignited road flare, celebrates Italy’s far-right youth as "ungovernable."

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/items/show/2

Our “Youthful Rebellion” lesson plan asks students to analyze the strategies by which the contemporary Italian far right promotes a sense of youthful rebellion and its connection to both rhetorical and physical political violence.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-3-you...

The materials in our CasaPound Italia collection illuminate the group's neo-fascist ideology, cultural activism, youth engagement, and promotion of far-right notions of Italian heritage through street-level propaganda and activities.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/collections/...

Collected on this day in 2018, this poster commemorates the death of Domenico Maria Dorsa – a young member of the far-right groups Nothing Is Superior and the Brothers of Italy – who passed away in a car accident on the outskirts of Rome.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/items/show/1/

The materials in our "Centennials" theme showcase the efforts made by the contemporary Italian neo-fascist community in commemorating the centennials of World War I and the founding of Fascism.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/tours/show/3

Our “Mourning and Memory in Historical Context” lesson plan prompts students to compare and contrast the collective memory strategies surrounding war dead and fallen “comrades” of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the contemporary Italian far right.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-2-mou...

The materials in our Blocco Studentesco collection showcase the youth group's neo-fascist origins, street-level political activism, and its protests against Italy’s education system and government.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/collections/...

The materials in our "Heritage" theme underscore the centrality of “heritage,” in its various expressions, to today's Italian far-right community.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/tours/show/2

Our “Making Martyrs” lesson plan asks students to examine the way in which the Italian far right’s dead are constructed as “martyrs” for the neo-fascist movement, and to understand the various implications of this ideologically-motivated framing.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-1-mak...

The materials in our Acca Larenzia collection highlight the Italian far right’s commemorations of three Fronte della Gioventù members who were killed in 1978, as well as the ongoing collective rituals honoring these neo-fascist “martyrs.”

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/collections/...

The materials in our "Patriarchs" theme highlight the commemoration of post-World War II Italy's neo-fascist leaders among the contemporary Italian far-right community.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/tours/show/1

Our “Youthful Rebellion” lesson plan asks students to analyze the strategies by which the contemporary Italian far right promotes a sense of youthful rebellion and its connection to both rhetorical and physical political violence.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-3-you...

Where Monsters Are Born has received its first scholarly review in Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies (University of Amsterdam Press)! See the URL below.

The materials in our Acca Larenzia collection highlight the Italian far right’s commemorations of three Fronte della Gioventù members who were killed in 1978, as well as the ongoing collective rituals honoring these neo-fascist “martyrs.”

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/collections/...

The materials in our "Resistance" theme highlight the existence of, as well as the mass communication strategies deployed by, members of Rome's anti-fascist community.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/tours/show/9

Our “Mourning and Memory in Historical Context” lesson plan prompts students to compare and contrast the collective memory strategies surrounding war dead and fallen “comrades” of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the contemporary Italian far right.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-2-mou...

The materials in our Anti-Fascism collection highlight the existence of, and the strategies deployed by, the anti-fascist opposition in contemporary Italy.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/collections/...

The materials in our "Elections" theme illuminate the ways in which Italy's (post-)fascist political parties have popularized their far-right views among voters via political branding campaigns.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/tours/show/8

Our “Making Martyrs” lesson plan asks students to examine the way in which the Italian far right’s dead are constructed as “martyrs” for the neo-fascist movement, and to understand the various implications of this ideologically-motivated framing.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-1-mak...

The materials in our Zetazeroalfa collection illuminate the rock ‘n roll band’s significant roles in promoting neo-fascist ideas and values in Italy and recruiting members for its parent group, CasaPound Italia.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/collections/...

The materials in our "Martyrs" theme showcase the significance of commemorating the deaths of Italy's neo-fascist militants among the contemporary Italian far-right community.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/tours/show/7

Our “Youthful Rebellion” lesson plan asks students to analyze the strategies by which the contemporary Italian far right promotes a sense of youthful rebellion and its connection to both rhetorical and physical political violence.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-3-you...

The materials in our Unaffiliated or Unknown collection were disseminated by far-right individuals and/or groups whose identities remain unknown or, for various reasons, obscured.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/collections/...

The materials in our "Liberation" theme underscore the significance of “national liberation,” in its various expressions, to today's Italian neo-fascist community.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/tours/show/6

Our “Mourning and Memory in Historical Context” lesson plan prompts students to compare and contrast the collective memory strategies surrounding war dead and fallen “comrades” of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the contemporary Italian far right.

URL: www.wheremonstersareborn.com/lesson-2-mou...