Italy

Robert Pearce examines the career of Mussolini’s forerunner.

In 1926 Umberto Nobile, a young Italian airship engineer, became a hero of Mussolini’s Fascist state when he piloted Roald Amundsen’s Norge over the North Pole. But his subsequent attempt to make the journey on behalf of his own country ended in tragedy. Irene Peroni tells his story.

What happened when a philosopher, an artist and a ruthless warrior – all giants of the Renaissance – met on campaign in northern Italy? Paul Strathern explains.

Mark Rathbone asks why the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia emerged in the 1850s as the likely unifier of Italy.

Lucy Riall explores the social and political issues in Italy following the country’s unification. She shows how these issues became the focus for a dynamic new artistic movement of the 1890s, Divisionism, a forerunner to Futurism and the subject of a current exhibition at the National Gallery.

The two dictators met on May 3rd, 1938.

Anthea Gerrie explores a remarkable excavation, a Roman surgeon’s house in Rimini.

Thomas Meakin asks to what extent Italian Fascism represented a triumph of style over substance.

F.G. Stapleton highlights the key role played by the Italian King in the Rise of Mussolini.