Piero Meldini’s 1973 Anthology Reazionaria Revisited: Right-Wing Culture in Italy

In 1973, essayist Piero Meldini published Reazionaria. Antologia della cultura di destra in Italia, an anthology collecting texts from various Italian right-wing figures, mostly tied to historical fascism: Julius Evola, Giovanni Gentile, Agostino Gemelli, and Giovanni Papini. The writings date from the early twentieth century. In the introduction, Meldini challenged a popular view, arguing that for too long a comforting legend had been cultivated—one of an irreducible opposition between the right and culture, of an Italian intelligentsia left-wing from the start, silenced and persecuted under fascism and, after the regime’s fall, permanently won over to democratic and progressive ideals. Fifty years later, the publication’s premises remain relevant as emblems of a heated and seemingly unresolved debate. The article, by Alessio Giovagnoni and Anita Romanello, appeared on 20 October 2026.