Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Giorgio Napolitano and Augusto De Luca, opening of
a photographic exhibition of Augusto De Luca in the Chamber of Deputies.
December 6, 1995 | Ferdinando Castaldo via Wikimedia Commons
(especially on the right) to favour the celebration of Northern League. Both Ciampi and Napolitano
acts of solidarity and aid made by Italians. sought to construct an “all-encompassing memory”
One figure highlighted in particular was Giorgio
which included new elements that were not part of
Perlasca, a former Fascist volunteer in the Spanish the earlier anti-fascist narrative such as the memory
Civil War, who claimed to be the Spanish consul in of the foibe, the victims of Allied bombing of Italian
Budapest in 1944 and managed to save thousands of cities, and the rapes committed by the French
people. For this act, he was awarded the “Righteous expeditionary force in Italy. But, above all, they
among the nations” honour. The recognition of revived and defended the memory of the Resistance
Perlasca and other “saviours of Jews” has thus by protecting and defending it against the revisionist
revived the image of the “good Italians” among campaign.
public opinion. The danger of this policy is that it
Thanks to the presidency of the republic, the
provides a comfortable smokescreen behind which demand that the boys of Salò should be placed on
the national conscience can hide – and thus avoid the same footing as the Partisans has been rejected.
coming terms with the country’s involvement in the The same happened with the proposal to abolish 25
persecution of the Jews. April as a national holiday. Ciampi and Napolitano
In the Italian “war of memory” – with all its
placed the recognition of the Resistance at the
battles, its ceasefires and its compromises – a crucial centre of the institutional memory interpreting
role was played by the Presidents of the Republic, it in a neo-patriotic fashion and as a struggle
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (1992-1999), Carlo Azeglio for national liberation resulting from the union
Ciampi (1999-2006), Giorgio Napolitano (2006- between people and the army. Both presidents
2015), and lastly Sergio Mattarella, the present limited the explicit references to anti-Fascism
incumbent. Ciampi and Napolitano in particular and supported the idea of the Resistance for the
chose memory as a privileged area of intervention to armed forces who remained loyal to the king and
hold together a country which had long been divided stood up to the Germans. It is no coincidence that
by the bitter political clash between centre-right the Greek island of Kefalonia, the scene of the
and centre-left under Berlusconi and whose national Wehrmacht’s worst massacre of Italian soldiers,
cohesion was under threat from the separatist has become a key site of memory. The Presidents of
42
Observing Memories
ISSUE 3