UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON Matera 1945-1960: the History of A
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UCL Discovery UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON Matera 1945-1960: the history of a ‘national shame’ A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of European Languages, Culture and Society Department of Italian Studies PhD Candidate: Patrick Christopher McGauley Supervisor: Professor John Dickie Submitted in September 2013 Declaration I, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract This thesis examines how and why the southern Italian city of Matera came to be seen as a national shame and symbol of the southern question in the post- war period. Moreover, it traces the impact that these narratives had on the city’s social and urban history from 1945 to 1960. It draws on methods from the history of nationalism, the history of emotions, the new southern history, and urban history to achieve these aims. A range of primary and secondary sources are examined including documents from the Italian State Archives in Rome and Matera, the US National Archive in Maryland, Italian newspapers and magazines, parliamentary documents and debates, and official newsreel and documentary footage. The first chapter analyses the image of Matera as Other and a symbol of southern Italy’s civiltà contadina featured in Carlo Levi’s post- war bestseller Cristo si è fermato a Eboli. It also assesses the book’s impact in shaping ideas of Matera amongst Italy’s post-war public sphere. The second chapter looks at how and why Matera came to be seen as a national shame in the immediate post-war period. It examines the distinct catholic and communist moral worlds which shaped this notion in a Cold War context. The third chapter investigates the implementation of the first special law for Matera. It assesses the project’s limitations and critiques the existing secondary literature on this topic. Finally, the fourth chapter is a case study of the purpose-built rural village La Martella. It examines how and why Matera and La Martella were used in government propaganda to promote official reforms in southern Italy. The thesis concludes that narratives of national shame and the southern question directly shaped Matera’s urban and social topography post-1945. 3 Table of contents DECLARATION ................................................................................................. 2 ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ 6 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 10 Scope............................................................................................................................................... 12 Existing literature..................................................................................................................... 13 Sources .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Methods ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Thesis structure ........................................................................................................................ 29 CHAPTER 1: CARLO LEVI AND THE ORIGINS OF THE MATERA QUESTION ........................................................................................................ 33 1.1 CRISTO’S HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT .................................................................... 37 1.2 MATERA IN CRISTO...................................................................................................................... 46 Matera: symbol of the civiltà contadina ......................................................................... 47 Matera as Other ......................................................................................................................... 53 1.3 CRISTO’S RECEPTION AND IMPACT ............................................................................................ 61 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 73 CHAPTER 2: MATERA AND NATIONAL SHAME ................................ 76 2.1 HISTORICAL CONTEXT................................................................................................................. 78 2.2 STUDYING NATIONAL SHAME ..................................................................................................... 87 Existing literature..................................................................................................................... 89 Theoretical framework .......................................................................................................... 93 4 2.3 AN ANATOMY OF NATIONAL SHAME ...................................................................................... 104 The foreigner’s gaze ............................................................................................................. 106 Housing, morality, and national shame ...................................................................... 119 De Gasperi’s tears .................................................................................................................. 136 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 143 CHAPTER 3: THE FIRST SPECIAL LAW FOR THE SASSI .............. 147 3.1 THE RESIDENTIAL VILLAGE MODEL ....................................................................................... 151 3.2 THE STUDY COMMISSION ........................................................................................................ 159 3.3 THE FIRST SPECIAL LAW .......................................................................................................... 165 3.4 IMPLEMENTING THE RISANAMENTO PROGRAMME .............................................................. 177 Serra Venerdì ........................................................................................................................... 180 Lanera ......................................................................................................................................... 183 Spine Bianche .......................................................................................................................... 184 Venusio ....................................................................................................................................... 186 Re-evaluating the first special law ................................................................................ 188 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 196 CHAPTER 4: LA MARTELLA: A MODEL FOR SOUTHERN ITALIAN DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................... 199 4.1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF IL BORGO LA MARTELLA.................................................................... 202 4.2 LA MARTELLA IN OFFICIAL SOURCES .................................................................................... 209 4.3 MATERA AND LA MARTELLA IN CENTRO DOCUMENTAZIONE FILMS ............................. 219 Accade in Lucania .................................................................................................................. 227 Paesi Nuovi and Cronache del Mezzogiorno............................................................... 231 Borgate della riforma ........................................................................................................... 234 4.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE LA MARTELLA PROJECT .................................................................... 242 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 259 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................. 262 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................... 270 5 Acknowledgements Researching and writing this thesis has at times felt like ploughing a lonely furrow. However, I would never have been able to complete the project without the help and support of countless friends and colleagues. First I would like to thank the National University of Ireland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council who kindly funded my research. It would have been impossible to carry out the required archival work and complete the writing phase of this thesis without their financial assistance. My supervisor John Dickie has provided prompt and expert feedback on my work throughout the last four years. His professionalism and encouragement have been a constant during my research studies at UCL. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude. Thanks also to John Foot who has provided