Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2014 Between the Local and the National: The Free Territory of Trieste, "Italianita," and the Politics of Identity from the Second World War to the Osimo Treaty Fabio Capano Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Capano, Fabio, "Between the Local and the National: The Free Territory of Trieste, "Italianita," and the Politics of Identity from the Second World War to the Osimo Treaty" (2014). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 5312. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/5312 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. 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Between the Local and the National: the Free Territory of Trieste, "Italianità," and the Politics of Identity from the Second World War to the Osimo Treaty Fabio Capano Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Modern Europe Joshua Arthurs, Ph.D., Co-Chair Robert Blobaum, Ph.D., Co-Chair Katherine Aaslestad, Ph.D. James Siekmeier, Ph.D. Antonio Varsori, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia, 2014 Keywords: Italianità, Free Territory of Trieste, Osimo, Identity, Cold War, Adriatic Border, Irredentism, Zone B, Post-war Italy, Nationalism Copyright 2014, Fabio Capano ABSTRACT Between the Local and the National: the Free Territory of Trieste, "Italianità," and the Politics of Identity from the Second World War to the Osimo Treaty Fabio Capano This dissertation examines the politicized use of the city of Trieste and its surrounding territory, a cosmopolitan municipality that became the theatre of one of the most heated disputes of the early Cold War years. Scholars have extensively studied the diplomatic dimension of the confrontation between Italy and former Yugoslavia, yet many have largely neglected the significance of the broader political process that led to the Osimo Treaty of 1975, the final settlement of Italy’s eastern border. This dissertation reaffirms the importance of the Triestine territory as a contested socio- political space that experienced the logic of both Cold War containment and détente. It studies this issue through a pericentric interpretative framework and demonstrates that the intertwining effect of local, national, and international politics significantly impacted the strategy of the Italian government which both extended and moderated the confrontational rhetoric of the Cold War against Tito’s regime. I argue that political leaders, parties, and associations used a wide range of political, economic, and social activities, which I later refer to as the politics of identity, to claim Italian sovereignty over the contested Adriatic border and reassert the Italian identity or “Italianità” of the Triestine territory. Above all, these activities were instrumentally used by the central government to reinforce popular support and project the image of the Triestine territory as a stronghold of Western democracy and barrier to Slav-Communism. Thus, ideas that had previously underscored the Italian identity of the disputed border now took a more dynamic as well as political and economic meaning that increasingly detached from former notions of an “imagined community” which shared a common language, culture, and past. As a result, Cold War Trieste gradually transformed into a factory of ideas of nationhood in post-war Italy. While this dissertation initially traces the fluctuating meaning of “Italianità” from nineteenth- century irredentism to twentieth-century Fascism, it later explores government support of nationalist ambitions that survived the Second World War and only gradually adjusted to the dynamic logic of the Cold War. After Trieste’s return to Italy in 1954, however, the new Center-left Christian Democratic coalition government reframed its politics of identity toward the city and its territory by upholding a policy of Adriatic friendship that promoted political and economic cooperation across the border. While these policies mirrored the new logic of Adriatic détente, they also met political and popular opposition inside Trieste, ultimately weakening local loyalty toward the nation-state and facilitating the re-emergence of both political localism and autonomist aspirations. The political process that accompanied the definition of Italy’s northeastern frontier also reshaped the image of the Triestine border that, located at the Southern point of the Iron Curtain, transformed from a wall into a bridge toward the Communist world. Thus, this work sheds light on the politics of identity in Cold War regions, the dynamic relationship between capital and frontier cities and the fluidity of nationhood in post-war Italy. 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 2 Abbreviations Used in the Main Text 4 Abbreviations Used in the Notes 5 Introduction 6 Chapter 1: “Italianità” on the Border: Trieste and Italian Irredentism from National 15 Unification to the Republic Chapter 2: From Occupation to the London Memorandum 1945-1954: Trieste’s Broken 61 Statehood and Contested “Italianità” on the Eastern Border Chapter 3: After London: Re-Thinking Border Politics 1954-1962 128 Chapter 4: Trieste’s Red Years: the Last Breath of Adriatic Irredentism 192 Chapter 5: The Final Farewell to Zone B: the Age of Détente and the Path to Osimo 246 Conclusion 303 Bibliography 310 2 Acknowledgments The seeds of this project were first planted in my mind in the Fall of 2009 when Dr. Robert Blobaum asked “What happened to Adriatic irredentism?” To respond to his query I undertook the study of one of the most acclaimed irredentist goals: making Trieste Italian. Since then, this study has evolved and transformed into a political history of Italy’s eastern border during the Cold War. To attempt to acknowledge all of the help I have received over the years seems almost impossible and here I can only partially express the gratitude that I owe to so many wonderful people that I have met during my studies as a Graduate Student at West Virginia University as well as during my archival research. My most profound thanks go to my mentors who have trained me as a historian: Dr. Joshua Arthurs and Dr. Robert Blobaum. They have seen this project grow over the years and have given me confidence and guidance from the beginning. Their remarkable suggestions, comments, and expertise have been invaluable. I cannot express my gratitude for their intellectual stimulation, personal encouragement, and patience in proof reading and editing this project. I also owe an enormous thanks to the other members of this Dissertation Committee. Dr. Katherine Aaslestad has always been incredibly supportive and her expertise in nineteenth-century Europe has greatly helped me better understand Trieste’s historical trajectory. Likewise, this project has greatly benefited from both Dr. James Siekmeier's expertise in the Cold War and Dr. Antonio Varsori’s vast knowledge of post-war Italy in international politics. I am especially grateful to scholars who I have met during my academic studies and conferences for their thoughtful comments and suggestions. Since my experience as an undergraduate student at University of Trento, Dr. Mark Gilbert has represented a continuous source of inspiration and constant support to my interest in history. I have also greatly benefited from my conversations with Italian scholars of the border who have expanded my understanding of the Adriatic region, among them Raoul Pupo, Roberto Spazzali, Anna Millo, Massimo Bucarelli, Elsa Damien, and Giuseppe Parlato. I am also grateful to young scholars with whom I have shared my research interests and exchanged ideas, among them Dr. Diego D'Amelio and Mirjana Morosini. In Trieste, I own a special thanks to Ravel Kodric for his input on Triestine politics and former Christian Democrat Giorgio Tombesi for making his private papers available and giving his time to be interviewed. This dissertation would not have been possible without the financial support of the Department of History during my research in both American and Italian archives. Particular thanks go to my fellow graduate students at WVU as well as the faculty, staff, and Chair of the Department. I would also like to thank the personnel at numerous libraries and archives. The staff of the Library of Congress and the National Archives in Maryland has been particularly helpful. I also would like to sincerely thank the staff of the State Archives in Rome as well as the State and Municipal Archives in Trieste. In Rome, I especially would like to thank the personnel of the Office of the Border Zones and its archivist, Dr. Stefania Mariotti, the Historical Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Gramsci Institute, the Luigi Sturzo Institute, the Ugo Spirito Foundation, the Nenni Foundation, the Historical Archives of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the Italian Army Archive, as well as the National Library. In Trieste, I would like to thank the personnel of the Archive of the Local Dioceses and the Coloni family for granting me access to Sergio Coloni's papers. I also would like to thank the personnel and archivists of the Attilio Hortis Library, the Archives of local associations such as the National League and the Istrian Union, as well as the local Institute for the Istrian Culture and the Institute for the History of the Liberation Movement in 3 the Friuli Venetian Region.