A form ofhistorical revisionism which emerged under thepost-war republic, it was argued that Italian soldiers had been "good" or "decent people" (brava gente) who had acted with humanity and compassion, supposedly inherent Italian values, in contrast to their ideologically motivated and brutalGerman allies.[3] In particular, it argued that the Italians had not participated in, or even had opposed, theNazi persecution of Jews in occupied parts of Eastern Europe.[4][5]Hannah Arendt supports the myth by maintaining thatItalian Jews had been protected by the "general, spontaneous humanity of a people of ancient civilization".[6] By extension, the term is sometimes applied to describe popular beliefs about theItalo-Ethiopian War (1935–36) or non-Jewish responses tothe Holocaust in Italy.[7]
The concept is based on the benevolent characteristics of the Italian people, such as to make them potentially immune from inhumanity towards the enemy in war or towards colonized nations, and capable of guaranteeing Italians special indulgence in return from other peoples.Pierluigi Battista defines it as:
A shield of good-naturedness, joviality, a natural inclination towards meekness and cordial sociability which should have protected [the Italians] from brutal hostility, a comfortable cushion capable of cushioning the dramatic impact of history and cruelty.[8]
In contrast with Battista and others who trace the rise of the myth to the post-World War II period,[8][9]Angelo Del Boca points out that its origins are older and date back to the beginning ofItalian colonial expansion (1885), in which the country, the last to start it among the European powers, programmatically attempted to show itself different, more human, a bringer of civilization, strong as it was in its history.[10] This led to the affirmation of the phrase, distorted by theEritrean population, ofbono italiano ('good Italian').[11]
^Paolo Favero,Italians, the “Good People”: Reflections on National Self-Representation in Contemporary Italian Debates on Xenophobia and War, in Outlines - Critical practice studies, No. 2 (2010), p. 138-153
^Diego Guzzi,The myth of the "Good Italian", the antisemitism and the colonial crimes, in Constelaciones - Revista de Teoría Crítica, No. 4 (2012), p. 255-264
^abcPetrusewicz, Marta (2004). "The hidden pages of contemporary Italian history: War crimes, war guilt and collective memory".Journal of Modern Italian Studies.9 (3):269–270.doi:10.1080/1354571042000254700.S2CID143230795.
^Allegra, Luciano (April 2013). "Italiani, brava gente? Ebrei, fonti inquisitoriali e senso comune".Quaderni storici(PDF) (in Italian). Vol. 142. Bologna: il Mulino. p. 252.
^abBattista, Pierluigi (28 August 2004). "Italiani brava gente. Un mito cancellato".La Stampa (in Italian).
^Allegra, Luciano (April 2013). "Italiani, brava gente? Ebrei, fonti inquisitoriali e senso comune".Quaderni storici(PDF) (in Italian). Vol. 142. Bologna: il Mulino. p. 251.
Focardi, Filippo; Klinkhammer, Lutz (2004). "The Question of Fascist Italy's War Crimes: The Construction of a Self-Acquitting Myth (1943 – 1948)".Journal of Modern Italian Studies.9 (3):330–348.doi:10.1080/1354571042000254755.S2CID143876226.
Fogu, Claudio (2006). "Italiani brava gente: The Legacy of Fascist Historical Culture on Italian Politics of Memory". In Lebow, Richard Ned; Kansteiner, Wulf; Fogu, Claudio (eds.).The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. pp. 147–176.ISBN978-0-8223-8833-3.
