Collegiants in Seventeenth-Century Holland: Ideas and Practices of Tolerance

This essay examines the history of the Collegiant movement in the Netherlands in the
seventeenth century. The Collegiants played a fundamental role in the cultural life of the
Dutch Republic but have received only limited attention in historiography. Based on a
comparative approach between two of the most important Collegiant groups in the cities
of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, this essay offers new perspectives on their history. It first
examines where the Collegiants met, how many times a week, how many people attended
their meetings, and the social and religious backgrounds of the participants. It then focuses
on the number of women who attended these meetings and their role in defending them
against the hostility of the Dutch Reformed Church. Lastly, it analyses the organisation and
practices of the Collegiant meetings and argues that they contributed to the creation of a
religious public sphere based on freedom of expression and tolerance.

Keywords: Religious dissent, Nonconformist women, Nonconformist movements, Freedom
of expression, Tolerance.

Parole chiave: Dissenso religioso, Donne nonconformiste, Movimenti nonconformisti, Libertà
di espressione, Tolleranza.

«From Ancient to New Empire»: Scipio Africanus in Fascism

The role of ancient Rome was central to the symbolic universe of Fascism and served as an
inspiration for action in the present. This paper examines the revival of Scipio Africanus as
an emblem of continuity between ancient Rome and Fascist Italy to serve contemporary
political and colonial ambitions. It examines the construction and dissemination of his
image through popular media and literature aimed at a wider audience. The role of these
narratives in aligning historical figures with the ideological goals of the regime is a particular
focus of the paper. The empire that Mussolini built for Italy was presented as the recovery
of a past that began with the Mediterranean expansion of ancient Rome. In this context,
the portrayal of Scipio as a precursor to Mussolini during the invasion of Ethiopia is of
particular interest.

Keywords: Scipio Africanus, Mussolini, Fascism, Romanity, Roman heritage.

Parole chiave: Scipione l’Africano, Mussolini, Fascismo, Romanità, Eredità di Roma.

Tito, Togliatti, the Problem of Trieste, and «That April 18th»

Based on unpublished Yugoslav archival sources, this article sheds new light on relations
between Italian and Yugoslav communists in the period ranging from the peace conference
in 1946 to the Italian general election in 1948. New evidence has come to light on the Tito-
Togliatti agreement in November 1946 being the latest in a series of Belgrade’s attempts
to annex Gorizia and Monfalcone. In the months before the 1948 election, Yugoslavia tried
to curry favor with the Pci by proposing to the Italian government a non-aggression pact
and a settlement for the border issue like the protocol agreed upon in Belgrade two years
earlier. Furthermore, records of the conversations Togliatti had in the Yugoslav legation in
Rome demonstrate that the Pci ruled out a violent takeover to seize power in Italy.

Keywords: Problem of Trieste, Italo-Yugoslav border, Free Territory of Trieste, Josip Broz
Tito, Palmiro Togliatti.

Parole chiave: Questione di Trieste, Confine italo-jugoslavo, Territorio libero di Trieste, Josip
Broz Tito, Palmiro Togliatti.

«Hannibal at the Gates»: Federconsorzi and the Birth of the Organic Centre-Left

This article aims to analyse the debate over the reform of Federconsorzi (ultimately not implemented)
during the negotiations for the formation of Italy’s first centre-left government
in the early 1960s. The main sources used are Ernesto Rossi’s and Manlio Rossi-Doria’s
personal files, the archives of the antitrust commission from 1961 to 1965, and the not
yet inventoried records of the historical archive of Federconsorzi. The anti-monopolistic
demands of some intellectuals from the Action Party tradition gave rise to a debate that
deeply influenced the stance of the left wing of the Socialist party and the internal balances
within the Christian Democratic Party, ultimately leading to a rift within Federconsorzi
itself. From this perspective, it is possible to shed light on one of the most complex and least
studied missed reforms of a crucial period in Italian politics.

Keywords: Federconsorzi, Coldiretti, Centre-Left, Manlio Rossi-Doria.

Parole chiave: Federconsorzi, Coldiretti, Centro-sinistra, Manlio Rossi-Doria.

The «Fiuggi Turning Point»: Readings, Interpretations and Open Questions

This article attempts to provide an overview of the historiographical and politological debate,
both in Italy and internationally, on the birth of the Alleanza nazionale (An) from the ashes of
the old neofascist party Movimento sociale italiano, which took place in January 1995 with
the so-called «Fiuggi turning point». The aim of the article is twofold: on the one hand, to
reconstruct and historicise the main interpretations that have been given to this event in the
historiography and political science; on the other hand, it attempts to suggest new research
perspectives and to highlight unresolved historiographical problems. The analysis examines the
identity challenges that accompanied the An’s shift from neo-fascism to a democratically legitimate
right-wing party. Situating the An’s quest for legitimacy within both the Italian and broader
European political contexts, the study calls for further research into the links between the
An’s liberal-democratic reorientation and its position within the European integration process.

Keywords: Alleanza nazionale, Italian right, «Fiuggi turning point», Neo-Fascism.

Parole chiave: Alleanza nazionale, Destra italiana, «Svolta di Fiuggi», Neofascismo.

Intellectuals and Politics in the History of Italy: On La cultura by Alberto Asor Rosa

Asor Rosa was a great historian of literature, but was also an intellectual who influenced
Italian cultural and political debate from the 1960s onward. The Forum examines from different
perspectives one of his most ambitious books, La cultura, an 800-page essay published
by Einaudi in 1975 in Storia d’Italia. The essay traced the history of Italian culture from
1860 to 1970 through an analysis of the relationship between intellectuals and politics. The
first three contributions in the discussion reconstruct the editorial history and the context
(Torchiani), and above all examine some of the book’s main theses (Vittoria, Attal). The
problem of the relationship between intellectuals and politics was one of the most debated
within Italian culture in the 1960s and 1970s, and was central to the production of Asor
Rosa, who studied it from the 16th century onward. For this reason, it seemed necessary also
to devote a contribution to his 1974 book La cultura della Controriforma (Lavenia), which
constitutes the premise of the great 1975 fresco.

Keywords: Intellectuals, New Left, Giolitti, Fascism, Counter-Reformation.

Parole chiave: Intellettuali, Nuova sinistra, Giolitti, Fascismo, Controriforma.

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Heretical Women and Men, «Religious Disobedience»

This article reflects on the book Eretiche ed eretici medievali. La «disobbedienza» religiosa nei
secoli XII-XV, ed. by Marina Benedetti, Rome, Carocci, 2023.

Keywords: Medieval heresy, Heretical women, Heresy and culture.

Parole chiave: Eresia in età medievale, Donne eretiche, Eresia e cultura.

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