Historiography of Italian Fascism from the post-war period to the present

This contribution analyses the development of Italian historiography of fascism from the immediate post-Second World War period until today. It begins with an investigation on how historians after 1945 related to the «classical» interpreta- tions of fascism advanced at the time of the regime itself, concentrating in particular on the question of the origins of fascism. A step forward was made between the 1960s and the 1980s, when historians began to pay attention to the fascist phenomenon itself, rather than seeing it as a consequence of external factors; and to the characteristics of the regime, fascist culture, the cult of Mussolini, and the question of Italian totalitarianism. A specific section examines the historiography of Renzo De Felice and the reactions to it. The last section focuses on the recent debate, from the 1990s to the present, when a new generation of historians began to study a wider variety of aspects of fascism, while at the same time establishing a dialogue with the previous generations of historians, concentrating in particular on: political violence; the relationship between state and party, and between centre and periphery; the economy; the Church and reli- gion; racism and colonialism; foreign policy; the idea of fascist consensus; and the fascist war.