Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T06:11:08.893Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Connected and disconnected memoryscapes of the Antigorio Valley: a village under water and a Second World War massacre on a cableway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2016

Hildegard Diemberger
Hildegard Diemberger*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge
*
*Email: hgmd2@cam.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article looks at two sites of memory in northern Italy that are geographically and temporally close but are remembered and narrated in different ways. Referring to specific tragic events that took place in the Valle Antigorio (northern Val d’Ossola) – the destruction of a village by the construction of a hydroelectric basin in 1938 and a massacre of partisans on a cableway in 1944 – it shows how memory can not only be divided but also connected and disconnected through fluid memoryscapes and remembrance practices that respond to shifting political contexts and a varying sense of belonging.

Abstract in italian

Questo articolo fa riferimento a due luoghi della memoria nell’Italia settentrionale, che sono vicini dal punto di vista geografico e temporale ma sono ricordati e raccontati in modi diversi. Si tratta dei tragici eventi avvenuti in Valle Antigorio (Ossola settentrionale) e in particolare la scomparsa di un villaggio, Agaro, mediante la costruzione di un bacino idroelettrico nel 1938 e il massacro dei partigiani sulla funivia di Goglio nel 1944. Essi dimostrano come la memoria possa essere non solo ‘divisa’ ma anche essere fatta di ricordi collegati o separati da narrative fluide che riflettono non solo paesaggi e pratiche della memoria ma anche la situazione politica dominante ed il senso di appartenenza di chi racconta.

Keywords

Valle AntigorioAgaroGoglioResistance
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 19 - 34
Copyright
© 2016 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Abrams, L. 2010. Oral History Theory. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Azzari, A. 1954. L’Ossola nella Resistenza italiana. Milan: Insmli.Google Scholar
Basso, K. 1996. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Basso, K. and Feld, S. 1996. Senses of Place. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.Google Scholar
Bergwitz, H. 1979. Una libera repubblica nell’Ossola partigiana. Milan: Feltrinelli.Google Scholar
Bocca, G. 2005 [1964]. Una repubblica partigiana – Ossola 10 settembre – 23 ottobre 1944. Milan: Il Saggiatore.Google Scholar
Bocca, G. 2006. Le Mie Montagne. Milan: Feltrinelli.Google Scholar
Bologna, P. 2005. “La ‘repubblica’ dell’Ossola.” In Terra d’Ossola. Domodossola: Lions Club/Grossi.Google Scholar
Brocca, G. 1931. “Un caso interessante di spopolamento della montagna”. Rivista Mensile del ClubAlpino Italiano n 29, February 1931–IX.Google Scholar
Carrattieri, M. 2015. “I confini della libertà. La cartografia delle ‘repubbliche partigiane’ nella storiografia sulla resistenza italiana” (‘The Borders of Freedom. Cartography of ‘partisan republics’ in the Historiography of the Italian Resistance’). E-review vol. 3 (2015) Rivista degli Istituti Storici dell’Emilia Romagna in Rete. http://ereview.it/carrattieri_confini_liberta. ISSN: 2282-4979.Google Scholar
Colombara, F. 2006. “Il fascino del leggendario Moscatelli e Beltrami: miti resistenti.” L’Impegno 26:33–62.Google Scholar
Contini, G. 1997. La memoria divisa. Milan: Rizzoli.Google Scholar
Cooke, P. 2005. “The Italian State and the Resistance Legacy in the 1950s and 1960s.” In Culture, Censorship and the State in Twentieth-Century Italy, edited by G. Bonsaver, and R. Gordon. Oxford: Legenda.Google Scholar
Fini, M. 1975. Guerriglia nell’Ossola. Milan: Feltrinelli.Google Scholar
Foot, J. 2009. Italy’s Divided Memory. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Istituto Nazionale Luce. 1936–37. Diga di Agaro. Documentary film DO40402.Google Scholar
Forgacs, D. 2014. Italy’s Margins – Social Exclusion and Nation Formation since 1861. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorrieri, E. 1966. La Repubblica di Montefiorino. Per una storia della Resistenza in Emilia. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Herf, J. 1997. Divided Memory. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mortarotti, R. 1979. I Walser nella Val d’Ossola. Domodossola: Libreria Giovannacci.Google Scholar
Pansa, G. 2003. Il sangue dei vinti. Quello che accadde in Italia dopo il 25 Aprile. Milan: Sperling and Kupfer.Google Scholar
Portelli, A. 2003. The Order Has Been Carried Out: History, Memory, and Meaning of a Nazi Massacre in Rome. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Revelli, N. 2005. Le due guerre: guerra fascista e guerra partigiana. Turin: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Storchi, M. 2007. “Post-war Violence in Italy: A Struggle for Memory.” Modern Italy Vol 12, n 2 237–250.Google Scholar
Zucca, A. 2000. “Il Diavolo a Gfurchtuwang, o degli ultimi giorni di Agaro.” In Almanacco Storico Ossolano 2001. Domodossola: Grossi.Google Scholar
Zucca, A. 2003. “Agaro era un Osso.” In I Walser del Silenzio, edited by P. Crosa Lenz. Domodossola: Grossi.Google Scholar

List of Interviews

Velia Tonzi 12 April 2008 and 9 July 2008.Google Scholar
Mariuccia Schmid 9 July 2008.Google Scholar
Zita Giannini 20 July 2008.Google Scholar
Andrea della Balma (known as Dino) 8 September 2008.Google Scholar
Lidia della Balma 15 May 2009.Google Scholar
Angelo Bersani (known as Angelo del Devero) 19 August 2009.Google Scholar
Diovole Proletti 19 August 2009.Google Scholar
Maria Sartori 19 August 2009 and 14 April 2010.Google Scholar
Erminio Anderlini 23 May 2010.Google Scholar
Anna Maria Bacher 23 May 2010.Google Scholar
Giulio Deini 23 May 2010.Google Scholar
Paolo Bologna 23 May 2010.Google Scholar
Antonio Galmarini (known as Tonino) 30 March and 17 July 2011.Google Scholar
Luigi Grossi (known as Cin, partisan name) 8 July 2012.Google Scholar