Michele Dantini on Renzo De Felice: Historian as Mythmaker for Italy

In an article published on Artribune Magazine #36, art historian and critic Michele Dantini argues that the work of political historian Renzo De Felice, particularly his monumental biography of Mussolini, offers a foundational myth for republican Italy. Dantini contends that De Felice's scholarship, which he describes as therapeutic rather than merely academic, addresses a missing shared memory and collective imagination in contemporary Italian art. He criticizes the excessive distance between cultural elites and the 'popolo', and the lack of recognition of a common humanity. Dantini links this to the unresolved relationship between art and religion, modernity and tradition in 20th-century Italy. He reinterprets major Italian artists like Fontana, Manzoni, Burri, Paolini, Fabro, Boetti, and De Dominicis as heterodox neo-traditionalists rather than mere innovators. He also cites contemporary artists such as Lambri, Favelli, Arienti, Pessoli, and Cuoghi as engaging with a vivid repertoire of ghosts and memory. The article appears in the context of Artribune's broader discussion on values, community, and fraternity in Italian art.