Since the late 1980s, the Lega Nord has broken the mould of Italian politics. Federalist, secessionist, populist, it has succeeded in mobilizing the entrepreneurial class of Northern Italy in a campaign against the Italian state. In 1996, it launched the idea of Panadia, a separate Northern Italian nation. This proved to be a step too far, but the Lega remains a political force to be reckoned with, and has propelled 'the Northern question' on to the national stage.

Commonly referred to collectively as the anni di piombo -- years of lead -- the 1970s have been seen as a parenthesis in Italian history, which was dominated by political violence and terrorism. The seventeen essays in this wide-ranging collection adopt different scholarly perspectives to challenge this monolithic view and uncover the complexity of the decade, exploring its many facets and re-assessing political conflict. The volume brings to the fore the ruptures of the period through an examination of literature, film, gender relations, party politics and political participation, social...

The history of modern Italy is characterized by recurrent cultural and political projects of modernity, rejuvenation, and regeneration; projects which often had their roots in a widespread dissatisfaction with social and political reality, and perceived moral corruption. The Risorgimento, the movement leading to Italian Unification in 1861, explicitly linked the quest for national unity to a process of moral regeneration and progress. Later forms of nationalism and the rise of fascism in the first two decades of the twentieth century advocated a spiritual revolution and the moulding of new...