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The British Institute of Florence and the British Council in Fascist Italy: from Harold E. Goad to Ian G. Greenlees, 1922–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2018

Tamara Colacicco
Tamara Colacicco*
Affiliation:
School of Advanced Study, Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London, UK
*
*Email: colaciccotamara@gmail.com
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Abstract

The first British cultural institute on foreign soil was founded in Florence in 1917. However, it was the creation of the British Council in London in 1935 that marked the beginning of the strengthening of the British cultural presence abroad. The aim of this drive was to promote knowledge of British culture and civic and political life overseas, to defend national prestige and, given the escalating expansionist policies of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, to encourage the preservation of dialogue between the major European powers, underpinned by democratic principles. Bridging a gap in research into the relationship between Italy and Great Britain in the interwar period, this article reconstructs the case study of British cultural diplomacy in Florence between 1922 and Mussolini’s declaration of war, analysing how British culture was used in politics and propaganda and investigating the relationship of the management of both the British Institute of Florence and the British Council with Fascism. In doing so, it offers original insight into British history and the country’s cultural institutions in Fascist Italy, and into the wider field of Anglo-Italian political and cultural relations during the period of dictatorship in Italy.

Italian summary

Nel 1917 veniva istituito a Firenze il più antico istituto di cultura inglese in terra straniera. Tuttavia, la fondazione a Londra del British Council nel 1935 è stato un punto di svolta del potenziamento della presenza culturale inglese all’estero. Gli obiettivi di tale accelerazione erano promuovere la conoscenza della cultura e della vita civile e politica britannica nel mondo, difendere il prestigio nazionale e, con l’inasprirsi delle politiche espansionistiche della Germania nazista e dell’Italia fascista, favorire il mantenimento di una condizione di dialogo in Europa ispirato ai principi democratici tra le principali potenze mondiali.

Colmando una lacuna rinvenibile nel quadro degli studi sulle relazioni tra l’Italia e la Gran Bretagna tra le due guerre, questa ricerca ricostruisce il case study della diplomazia culturale inglese a Firenze dal 1922 alla dichiarazione di guerra di Mussolini, analizzando gli usi in politica e propaganda della cultura britannica e l’interazione con il fascismo di personalità addette alla gestione sia del British Institute of Florence che del British Council. Nel fare questo, l'articolo offre contributi originali alla storia degli inglesi e delle loro istituzioni di cultura nell’Italia fascista e all’ambito più ampio delle relazioni politiche e culturali anglo-italiane durante il periodo della dittatura in Italia.

Keywords

fascismFascist Italycultural diplomacyBritish propagandaBritish Institute of FlorenceBritish Council
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , August 2018 , pp. 315 - 329
Copyright
© 2018 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

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References

Archival sources

British Institute of Florence Archives (BRI).Google Scholar
Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS).Google Scholar
The National Archives (TNA).Google Scholar
JournalsGoogle Scholar
Bollettino degli Studi inglesi in Italia: organo dell’Associazione fra i diplomati dell’Istituto britannico (1932–1938).Google Scholar

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