Half in jest, half in earnest. The Italian post-world war satirical press 1944-1963

In this overall outline of the Italian satirical press from the second post-world war period up to the Sixties, the A. argues that the remarkable flourishing of humorous papers which took place in the latter half of the Forties should be associated to the persistence of a satirical tradition, strong enough even during the fascist era. It was indeed the weight of such a tradition, according to the A., that would soon determine the gradual marginalization of the left-oriented satirical press, until the only humorous papers in circulation remained the rightist ones, some of them overtly neo-fascist. And yet, these latter periodicals themselves proved to be incapable of updating, so that by the mid-Sixties the whole Italian satirical press practically disappeared. Among the periodicals surveyed, with detailed information about their circulation, publishers and contributors, the most notable were the conservative "Candido" and "Il Travaso", respectively edited by Giovanni Guareschi and Guglielmo Guasta, the anti-fascist "Cantachiaro", the anti-clerical "Don Basilio" and the two neofascist journals "Asso di Bastoni" and Alberto Giannini’s "Il Merlo Giallo". Judging inappropriate certain interpretations emerging from recent literature, the A. stresses the emotional and existential undercurrent connecting Guareschi to Fascism. Key words:

Keywords: Italian satirical press, second post-world war Italy, Giovanni Guareschi, Alberto Giannini, "Candido", "Il Travaso"

Dario Pasquini, Tra il serio e il faceto. I giornali satirici italiani del dopoguerra 1944-1963 in "ITALIA CONTEMPORANEA" 262/2011, pp 75-96, DOI: 10.3280/IC2011-262005