"Memoria, identità storica e i fondamenti del Patto costituzionale"

The hallmark of the modern age is the rapidity of change, a condition that subverts all traditional reference points in both the productive and political- institutional worlds. To govern these sudden transformations, and to avoid being overwhelmed by them, people are forced to “invent” traditions and “imagine” communities: anchors in the stormy sea and compasses to navigate into an uncertain future. But for this to happen, a shared memory and identity are needed, a sense of belonging that justifies a new sovereign not anointed by natural or divine laws. In the XIX century, this aim was achieved through the compromise between the old aristocracies and the newly emerging bourgeoisie, who built nation-states together, translating the elaboration of a common memory into the legal constraint of short and flexible constitutions. In the XX century, the popular masses exploded, leading to either the enlargement of the public dimension and the construction of institutions with broader democratic participation, or the reaction of conservative elites supported by radical nationalist movements, also animated by the middle classes. The latter is the experience of fascism in our country. Consequently, the post-World War II period and the Constitution of the Republic represent the overthrow not only of the dictatorship but, more importantly, of a racist and warmongering identity project of those Italians that Mussolini would have desired in black shirts.