LIBRI DI FABRIZIO BATTISTELLI

In the present debate on Italian identity a point is manifestly missing: the mutual relationship between identity and military spirit. The essay tries to shed light on the factors underlying the representation widely spread within the country and abroad, up to which Italians lack military spirit. The crucial factor is identified in individualism, a constitutive element of Italian culture which, quite functional in many fields, proves to be not functional in an highly cooperative endeavor as the army. Paradoxically, for some weird historical reasons, army life has proved to strenghten individualism, rather than weakening it, both in the different ideologies present in military policy, left-wing (garibaldinismo), right-wing (dannunzianesimo, fascism), and the official ideology of the military (idealism).