ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Italy’s apparent inability to complete successfully the transition from the First to the Second Republic and renew its political institutions is, at least in part, due to the country’s failure to deal with its problematic legacy of political conflict and ideological confrontation. Italy went through a period of violent conflict in the late 1960s and 1970s which has left a legacy of bitter divisions, antagonisms and recriminations. The conflict also prevented a truth recovery process about past crimes and the achievement of full justice through the courts. Indeed, since the collapse of the First Republic, Italy has shown extremely high levels of political conflict and mistrust. The chapter argues that there are strong resistances to truth recovery from various social and political actors, and that in this situation, many appear to favour a form of ‘collective amnesia’. Yet it is precisely the use of lies and amnesia that is preventing the emergence of tolerant identities and is fuelling mutually exclusionary narratives and interpretations of the conflictual past, as well as cultures of victimhood.
