Splendour and Fall of a Revolutionary. Amílcar Cabral and the Italian Reception of his Thinking in the 1960s and 1970s

The emergence of the Portuguese colonial war (1961–1974) poses a fundamental question to the Italian anticolonialism: what is this “forgotten” and “peripheral” Portuguese colonialism fighting in Africa? The first half of the 1960s onwards saw a renewed interest in Italy, including an editorial one, for the anticolonial critical theory produced in Africa. Amílcar Cabral’s case is exemplary: his vast and heterogeneous production of publications and translations became known in Italy in a very short time (ten years): volumes, interviews, anthologies, articles. Cabral’s relations with Italy are also important for understanding the process of internationalisation of the problem of the Portuguese colonies as evidenced by the Conferência de Solidariedade and the papal audience with Paul VI in Rome (1970). The rapid end of Italian and European interest in Cabral coincides with the end of the decolonising season. This chapter aims to study Cabral’s presence in Italy through conferences, publications, personal connections and the audience with the Pope