This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: King, Amy Title: Italy’s secular martyrs the construction, role and maintenance of secular martyrdom in Italy from the twentieth century to the present day General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. Italy’s secular martyrs: the construction, role and maintenance of secular martyrdom in Italy from the twentieth century to the present day Amy King A thesis submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts. School of Modern Languages, September 2018 Word count: 79, 455 Abstract This thesis examines the construction, maintenance and role of secular martyrdom in Italy throughout the twentieth-century and into the present day. It uses two case studies – the Primavalle Arson (1973), and the kidnap and assassination of Giacomo Matteotti (1924) – to examine the role of martyrdom in the construction of collective identity in Italy. It will analyse commemoration of both tragedies from the time of the events through to the contemporary age, and trace how memory has evolved according to Italy’s changing socio-political context. I will ask why some individuals emerge as martyrs for the nation, while others are remembered only at the level of the socio-political group; whether the boundaries of the nation state contain martyr memory; and if the turn away from monumental memory to the cosmopolitan mode of remembering within national history narratives has had an impact on the martyr paradigm. Using methodologies including oral history interviews, analysis of media discourse, observation of commemoration ceremonies, and by analysing the iconography and text on monuments, the thesis will address the role of the secular martyr in the construction of collective identity within a country that has proved unable to unite behind the umbrella of the nation state at various social and political turning points in its recent history. Martyrs have played a key role in the construction of Italian national identity, especially in the wake of national violence, making these stories crucial for our understanding of how the nation and its subjects understand their history and identity. For my grannies Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisors John Foot and Anna Cento Bull. They have stretched my thinking and sharpened my focus, and I feel very fortunate to have had their direction, ideas and kindness. Thank you both. This thesis has been possible thanks to the generous support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the SWW DTP. The University of Bristol also provided funds for travel and conferences, for which I am grateful. Thanks are also due to my upgrade examiners Ruth Glynn and Tim Cole for their early feedback and suggestions on this work. The fellowships and grants I have had during my PhD have been a real joy. I would like to thank the staff at the Kluge Center, Library of Congress, for creating a wonderful research community. The friends I made during that fellowship are some of the best and the brightest. Thanks also to the staff of the British School at Rome for an inspiring three months in an idyllic setting, and to the Roger and Ingrid Pilkington Charitable Trust for funding my Rome Award. Finally, thank you to the staff at the Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota, for helping me find archival treasures during my Grant-in-Aid Award. I am grateful to the staff at the Biblioteca Nazionale and Archivio dello Stato in Rome; the Biblioteca di Storia Moderna e Contemporanea; the Fondazione Nenni; the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence; the Casa Museo Giacomo Matteotti; the Center for Migration Studies Archive in New York; the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University; the Women’s Library at LSE; and the British Library. My research in Primavalle was made much easier thanks to Simone Conte, who helped me to find oral history interviewees (to whom I am also very grateful). Sincere thanks are due to Giampaolo Mattei and his family for meeting me on various research trips, allowing me to observe commemoration ceremonies and always answering my questions. Thanks are also due the Italian department at the University of Bristol for giving me a love of Italian Studies, first as an undergraduate and later during my PhD. I am also grateful to my fellow Italian PhD students and friends – Amber, Flora, Marta, Michela, Sarah, and Stefania – for our many lunches spent together and mutual moral support. Long may we continue to celebrate each other’s successes! My friends and family have given love and support and buoyed my spirits when needed. Special thanks are due to my exceptionally supportive Dad for our daily phone-calls on my way home from the library - you are the best ‘Dad-in-transit’! – and to my Mum, for first introducing me to Italy and languages. Finally, to Wes, the greatest thank you of all. I am so grateful that you have always encouraged me to take opportunities, even though it meant spending almost nine months apart. I look forward to spending our first autumn together since 2015, and Christmas at home. This thesis is our achievement. Author’s declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University's Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate's own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: ............................................................. DATE:.......................... Table of Contents List of abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 1 List of figures ................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter 1. A Nation of Martyrs .................................................................................... 3 Memory, justice and violence ........................................................................................................... 10 Monumental memory: narrating triumph ..................................................................................... 13 Cosmopolitan memory: the turn to the victim ............................................................................. 15 The origins of martyrdom ................................................................................................................. 17 Methodologies, sources and thesis structure ................................................................................ 27 Chapter 2. Rome’s Contested Martyrs: Memory of the Primavalle Arson ....... 36 Martyrdom and the Years of Lead .................................................................................................. 39 Activism in Rome’s poorest suburb ................................................................................................ 43 The Primavalle Arson ........................................................................................................................ 45 A brief history of the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) .......................................................... 50 ‘La morte in diretta’ ............................................................................................................................ 53 Chapter 3. Antagonistic Martyrdom and the Far Right ........................................ 59 Casting death as sacrifice ................................................................................................................... 60 A mother for the party: representation of Anna Mattei ............................................................. 65 Historicising sacrifice, creating heritage ....................................................................................... 69 Vernacular claims to memory in public space .............................................................................. 74 Performing political identity through