ABSTRACT: Fascism reacted against the image of a "fragile, decadent, corrupt and disintegrated" Europe. Fascism was in favour of an "anti-Europe"; it proposed a "pure and luminous" rurality versus the "cosmopolitism" of the cities, "Strapaese" (1) versus "Stracittà". This anti-Europeanism soon turned into an anti-French campaign; the Italian artists that entertained relations with France were severely attacked. Such anti-Europeanism was rooted "in the history of the national unity" (11). It was based on the belief that the major European powers had hindered Italy's colonial race. On the other hand, for centuries in Italy the word Europe "corresponded to no idea at all". In the dictionaries of the Italian language, none of the expressions related to the term "Europe" dates back to earlier than the 18th century. Only during the years of the war, the country expressed "a...touching appeal to Europe..." (quoted from the poems of Vittorio Sereni). Europe is "a myth, a utopia". Can something of the kind be found i

n the idea of Europe, at a time in which we are electing a Parliament which should give rise to a sort of government of its own?

(LE MONDE, 10-11 June 1979), translated into Italian and published by "Il Mattino" of 13 June 1979)

During the time of fascism, in Italy, a commonly felt image was that of a fragile, decadent, corrupt and decomposed Europe. It is against this image of Europe which fascism reacted. Not that it suggested a different Europe, young and strong. Secessionist, it favoured an anti-Europe. A magazine even chose to call itself "Anti-Europe". Its editor was a personality of the regime, Asvero Gravelli, who boasted an incredible resemblance with Mussolini. And it wasn't the only one to profess anti-European feelings. With more brio and subtlety, other magazines of a higher cultural level carried out an anti-European polemic which we would be tempted today to label as "environmental".

The pure and luminous country, extoled in contrast to the unwholesome, oppressing and sombre life of the cities. The word city was associated to cosmopolitism, to Europe. The "strapaesani" from Strapaese (Soffici (2), Maccari (3), Longanesi (4)) and the "stracittadini" from Stracittà (5) (Bontempelli (6), Malaparte (7)) were the antagonists of a literary controversy. The anti-European controversy boiled down, in actual fact, to an anti-French controversy. The inferiority complex turned into its contrary, proclaimed a superiority which was far more concerned about good health, physical strength and population growth than about intelligence and culture. On the other hand, in the field of intelligence or culture, anyone who favoured Europe was almost automatically suspected of being an antifascist. When Giorgio De Chirico (8) and Alberto Savinio (9) returned to Italy (in 1934, I believe), the "strapaesano" (10) weekly "Il Selvaggio" attacked the two most European Italians of the moment, writing that "France off

ends us not when it takes them, but when it gives them back".

Fascism's anti-Europeanism was rooted in the history of the national unity. The Italian state had originated, in the previous century, from the rivalries between the major European powers, the same ones that hindered Italy's colonial expansion. The disastrous colonial enterprises in East Africa and in Tripolitania (12) had been the only possibilities left to Italy. Hence a certain resentment. We should also acknowledge the fact that for centuries in Italy, the word Europe corresponded to no idea at all. Unless we want to consider that which adventurers such as Cagliostro (13) and Casanova (14) had of Europe as an idea.

The most recent and complete dictionary of the Italian language lists a whole series of words relative to Europe:

Europe/anistically; Europe/anist; Europe/anism; Europe/anist; Europe/izing; Europe/anize; Europe/anization; Europe/an; Europe/ic are among the various entries that illustrate the use and the meaning of these words in the Italian literature; few or none express any whatsoever idea of Europe, and none of them dates back to earlier than the 18th century.

In actual fact, it is not precisely an idea: rather a state of mind, or a simple impression. To proclaim oneself European, or to acknowledge that condition, is at the same time feeling a sense of weakness, fragility and extreme fatigue. Savinio is exemplary: "The full extent of the weakness and fragility of our Europeanism dawned on me in the face of this barbaric and rotten Asia". It is a well-known fact that during the fascist period in particular, other writers tried to seek an alternative to this fragility by denying and rejecting the idea of Europe. Like the poet Cardarelli (15), they labeled themselves as "second-rank" Europeans, i.e. anti-Europeans.

During the years of the war, an appeal to the idea of Europe which is perhaps the most ancient and touching of the entire Italian literature, breaks out. The poet Vittorio Sereni (16) appeals to a certain idea of Europe from the Greek front and later from a prison in Africa: silent and threatened, but alert, harbinger of comfort, of salvation, for a world which violence and insanity seem to want to destroy:

"Europe, Europe who behold me

as I sink, unarmed, among the hoards of barbarians

a fragile myth obsesses me..."

These are the words of an Italian soldier, an invader on the soil of Greece, in 1942. Perhaps he wanted to read out, shamefully and cynically, with a feeble voice, the "Prayer on the Acropolis". And, two years later, as a prisoner in Algeria, when the Americans have reached Normandy:

"He who fell first

facedown on the beach of Normandy

knows nothing any longer, and flies high:

someone, tonight

touched my arm murmuring

to pray for Europe

when the "New Armada"

appeared in front of the coast of France".

In Sereni there is the persistent feeling of a fragility of Europe, which corresponds to the fragility of the poet who faces the barbaric hoards. But it also contains the idea of Europe as something other than war, violence, Nazism and fascism: an idea, a myth, a utopia.

This is the question which we should ponder today: can the traces of this idea, of this myth, of this Europe, be found in the Europe we are trying to achieve with a Parliament that will give birth to a sort of government?

In an appeal launched in the form of an ad on "Le Monde" of 20 May, Sartre (17) and the Committee against the German-U.S. hegemony say no, and in apocalyptic terms. Are we still at the point of this division of the world mentioned by Borges (18): those who consider Waterloo a defeat and those who consider it a victory?

Or does the alarmed prospect of a Europe based on unemployment and capital, repression and conservatism, in other words a Europe of war, have a real basis?

Certainly for us Italians, it is not very reassuring to hear the president of the French republic answer the question: "Why Europe?" with "Look, thanks to it we have managed to sell the Airbus". If he were willing to be equally sincere and cynical, what would the president of the federal republic of Germany answer? What does the Airbus represent in relation to that which Germany hopes to sell to France itself? There is something gratuitous or at least premature in listening for the trumpets of the Apocalypse in the European unity we are trying to achieve. But surely we Italians must advance with mistrust and alarm. I believe we should transfer our idea of the fragility of Europe from literature to politics, because unless we do that, we will truly be like pots of clay versus pots of iron.

("Le Monde", 10-11 June 1989, translated into Italian and published by "Il Mattino" of 13 June 1989)

(1) STRAPAESE. In the Italian language, "stra-" is a suffix which means: extra, super, over- ; "paese" means village. "Strapaese" literally means "supervillage".

- Italian literary movement, created in 1926 to defend the rural tradition in culture as opposed to "Novecento". Its organs were: "Il Selvaggio" by Maccari and "L'Italiano" by Longanesi.

(2) SOFFICI ARDENGO. (Rignano sull'Arno 1879 - Forte dei Marmi 1964) painter and writer. Author of futurist verse. As a painter he passed from cubism to traditional subjects.

(3) MACCARI MINO. (Siena 1898) painter, designer and writer. Founder and editor of "Il Selvaggio", the organ of "Strapaese".

(4) LONGANESI LEO. (Bagnocavallo 1905 - Milan 1957) writer and painter, publisher. Founder of "L'Italiano", 1927, "L'Omnibus", 1937 and "Il Borghese" 1950.

(5) STRACITTA'. In the Italian language, "stra-" is a suffix which means: extra, super, over- ; "città" means city. Literally speaking, "Stracittà" means "supercity".

- "Stracittà" - Italian literary movement, opposed to the literary movement "Strapaese". Another name for Bontempelli's movement, "Novecento".

- "Stracittadini": inhabitants of supercity. Members of "Stracittà".

(6) BONTEMPELLI MASSIMO . (Como 1878 - Rome 1960), writer. Co-founder, with Malaparte, of the magazine "Novecento" (1926-29).

(7) MALAPARTE CURZIO. Pseudonym of Kurt Suckert (Prato 1898 - Rome 1957) journalist and writer, exponent of a brilliant and cynical individualism.

(8) DE CHIRICO GIORGIO. (Volos, Greece 1888 - Roma 1978), painter. Began painting in Germany, influenced by Böcklin and Klinger. As of 1911 in Paris he painted the series of squares and towers, first examples of the metaphysical culture which he later theorized with Carrà, and which influenced Dadaism and surrealism.

(9) SAVINIO ALBERTO. Pseudonym of Andrea de Chirico. (Athens 1891 - Rome 1952) writer, painter and musician. The brother of Giorgio de Chirico. As an artist he grew up in the surrealist circle of Paris. He meant to summarize the classic premises and avant-garde techniques.

(10) Strapaesano . Literally: inhabitant of super village: a member of "Strapaese".

(11) UNIFICATION OF ITALY. The struggles of the "Risorgimento" and the wars of independence brought to the unification of Italy in 1860 under the Savoia royal family (proclamation of the kingdom of Italy: 17/III/1861), which was completed in 1866 with the annexation of Veneto and the taking of Rome in 1870. In 1882 Italy signed the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary and started a colonial policy (Eritrea, Somalia) which lead, in 1896, to the war against Ethiopia (defeat of Adua) and in 1911-12 to the war against Turkey for the possession of Libya.

(12) TRIPOLITANIA. Region of Northwest Libya, bordering on the Mediterranean. Has always belonged to various peoples: a part of the Roman African empire since 46 b.c.; conquered by the Arabs (VII-VIII centuries), annexed to Tunis after the XVth century; conquered by Spain in 1510, taken by the Turks in 1551. With the war between Italy and Turkey (1911-12) it passed to Italy. Occupied by the Britons during World War II, in 1951 it formed the kingdom of Libya with Cyrenaica and Fezzan.

(13) CAGLIOSTRO ALESSANDRO, Count of. (Palermo 1743 - San Leo 1795) adventurer whose real name was Giuseppe Balsamo. Famous in Europe as a necromancer and healer, he founded the Egyptian masonry. Implicated in a number of scandals, he was convicted (1789) and imprisoned in the fortress of San Leo.

(14) CASANOVA DE SEINGALT GIOVANNI GIACOMO. (Venice 1725 - Dux, Bohemia 1798) adventurer, diplomat, spy and legendary lover. Imprisoned on several occasions, he always managed to escape.

(15) CARDARELLI VINCENZO . Pseudonym of Nazareno Caldarelli (Tarquinia 1887 - Rome 1959) neoclassic poet and essay-writer.

(16) SERENI VITTORIO. (Luino 1913 - Milan 1983) poet, he passed from hermetic forms to a "spoken" language, strongly influenced by ethical and existential reasons. "Diario d'Algeria" (1947), "Gli strumenti umani (1965), "Stella variabile" (1981).

(17) SARTRE JEAN PAUL. (1905-80) French philosopher and writer. Developed a phenomenological ontology based on the dichotomy between "the existence of the world" (the immediate and inert reality) and the "being of the conscience", which is deliberate activity and absolute freedom. Developed an "atheist existentialism" which became famous thanks to the philosopher's literary production. Joined the French communist party and restated the principles of existentialism, adapting them to the analysis of the historical and social reality. In 1964 was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. After 1968 he joined the extreme left and the French Maoists". "The nausea"; "Dirty hands"; "The flies"; "Critique of the dialectic reason".

(18) BORGES JORGE LUIS. (Buenos Aires 1899 - Geneva 1986). Argentinian writer. Lived for some time in Spain, where he established relations with the avant-garde movements and wrote for various magazines. Back to his country, he introduced ultraism in the United States. In 1979 he was awarded the Cervantes prize. His fiction work consists of short stories, poems and essays which have made him one of the best Spanish-speaking authors: "Historia universal de la infamia". "El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan". "Ficciones". "El Aleph". "El informe de Brodie" and "El libro de arena". Verse: "Fervor de Buenos Aires", "Luna de enfrente", "Elogio de la sombra".