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Abstracts

Alessandro Campi, The Two Manifestos One Hundred Years Later: Toward a Critical Reassessment

The year 1925 constitutes a pivotal and dramatic moment in the political and cultural history of twentieth-century Italy. As the Mussolini regime consolidated its dictatorial character, two manifestos – authored respectively by Giovanni Gentile and Benedetto Croce – were published, traditionally interpreted as marking the definitive cleavage between fascism and antifascism within Italian society. One hundred years after their appearance, however, it is necessary to reassess whether this conventional reading adequately captures the actual nature of the political, intellectual, and personal divisions that emerged during that decisive year. This article re-examines the political and social role attributed to intellectuals by the two philosophers, investigates the motivations that led the signatories to align themselves with one or the other appeal, and evaluates the concrete political impact of the manifestos. Particular attention is also devoted to those who chose not to sign either text, analyzing their identities and the reasons underlying their silence. Through this inquiry, the study aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of the fractures and continuities that characterized Italian political thought in 1925.

Keywords: Giovanni Gentile, Benedetto Croce, Fascismo, Liberalismo, Intellettuali

 

Maurizio Griffo, Rosario Romeo: From Ethical-Political Historiography to Direct Political Engagement

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Rosario Romeo did not act as a political commentator, despite sharing a critical stance toward the two dominant ideological “churches” of his time: communism and political Catholicism. Yet his historiography consistently exhibits a pronounced ethical and political dimension, explaining his frequent interventions in Italian cultural debates, where he often advanced heterodox and provocative positions. This orientation also accounts for his later engagement in political life, through which he championed a secular-liberal vision of Italian politics and historical interpretation.

Keywords: Rosario Romeo, Liuberalismo , Cattolicesimo, Storicismo

 

Cristina Baldassini, Rosario Romeo and the History of Fascism

Although Romeo never focused specifically on Italian fascism, he addressed the Mussolini regime in numerous occasional contributions – articles, essays, and reviews – reflecting his intellectual and political alignment with the interpretation developed by his colleague Renzo De Felice. These interventions reveal not only his firmly negative historical judgment of the dictatorship but also his conviction that fascism is a concluded historical phenomenon. For Romeo, it required a measured, historically grounded approach, avoiding moralizing judgments and the distortions of ideological oversimplification.

Keywords: Rosario Romeo, Renzo De Felice, Fascismo, Autoritarismo, Stato liberale

 

Federico Poggianti, Parallel Lives: The Cavour of Rosario Romeo and Denis Mack Smith

Rosario Romeo and Denis Mack Smith offered radically divergent interpretations of the Risorgimento through their differing evaluations of Cavour’s political life. Their debate, however, went beyond ordinary historiographical disagreement: it reflected contrasting conceptions of liberalism, the public role of history, the use of historical and archival sources, and the very practice of historical scholarship.

Keywords: Rosario Romeo, Denis Mack Smith, Cavour, Risorgimento, Sicilia

 

Domenico Maria Bruni, The Liberalism of Rosario Romeo

Rosario Romeo described himself as a “committed liberal,” yet he remained an eccentric and heterodox figure, often at odds with his peers’ understanding of liberalism. Faithful to Benedetto Croce and historicism, he emphasized liberalism’s ethical and political dimension, valuing historical tradition and stressing the institutional and collective aspects of political life over economic or individualist interpretations.

Keywords: Rosario Romeo, Liberalismo, Benedetto Croce, Azionismo, Liberaldemocrazia, Storicismo

 

Simone Zuccarelli, The Rise and Decline of the Brief Paleo Alliance

The rise of neoconservatism in the 1970s and the paleoconservative reaction encouraged some libertarians to pursue a “paleo” alliance against forces seen as betraying the Old Right. The end of the Cold War appeared to create a favorable context for this renewed “fusionist” effort. Thinkers such as Murray Rothbard and Llewelyn Rockwell advanced a paleolibertarianism rooted in Old Right traditions. Simultaneously, paleoconservatives challenged neoconservatives and internationalist moderates. The 1992 election tested this alignment through support for Patrick Buchanan. The experiment soon collapsed.

Keywords: Conservatorismo, Old Right, Libertarismo, Stati Uniti, Guerra Fredda

 

Orazio Maria Gnerre, Nostalgia, Return, and Nationalistic Myth in J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’

J.R.R. Tolkien’s work has always been open to various political interpretations, allowing for multiple “appropriations” through its inherent abstraction. The thesis of this article, demonstrated through an analysis of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and a historical-critical examination, is that Tolkien’s fantasy world, on one hand, does not refer to specific political movements, and, on the other hand, draws from the principles and forms of nationalism developed between the 19th and 20th centuries certain essential models of political myth, thus developing a kind of “archetypal” political discourse.

Keywords: J.R. R. Tolkien, Mito, Nazione, Nostalgia

 

Pier Paolo Portinaro, Beyond the European civil war. Explorations in Schmittian province

The recent publication of three important correspondences by Carl Schmitt – with Reinhart Koselleck, Roman Schnur, and Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde – provides an opportunity to reconstruct some of the strategies for the “urbanization of the Schmittian province” implemented by a group of young people in postwar West Germany. The correspondents were three very different personalities: the historian was engaged in a critical re-examination of the legacy of the Enlightenment in opposition to the interpretation that would prevail within the Frankfurt School, while the two jurists were committed to coordinating the efforts of the marginalized Schmittian faction against the rampant Smend School and its pluralistic constitutionalism of values. This chapter of intellectual history is weighed down by the trauma of National Socialism; the response is an attempt to reinterpret history by resorting to the diagnosis of the German, then European, and finally world civil war.

Keywords: Carl Schmitt, Realismo politico, Teologia politica, Guerra civile fredda, Weimar

 

Giuseppe Russo, The Third Remains Absent: Reflections on the Debate between Norberto Bobbio and Danilo Zolo

Written on the twentieth anniversary of Norberto Bobbio’s death, this paper aims to examine the enduring relevance of the Turinese philosopher’s reflections on international law, particularly in relation to the critiques proffered by Danilo Zolo. Bobbio and Zolo represent two paradigmatic figures within Italian legal philosophy: the former advocated for a globalist conception of the international legal system – drawing inspiration from both Kant and Kelsen – whereas the latter challenged this position from a pluralist and Schmittian perspective. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that the tension between monism and pluralism – namely, between global governance and a polyarchy of power centres – remains the unresolved crux of contemporary world politics.

Keywords: Norberto Bobbio, Danilo Zolo, Diritto internazionale, Monismo, Terzo