Articles by: Gerardo Papalia

Author Biography:

Gerardo Papalia is a Research Affiliate at the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University in Australia. His expertise is in history and Italian Diaspora studies, including literature, religion and cinematography.

Mussolini Redux?: Could Italy’s new foreign policy trigger a passage to a multipolar world order?

Meloni’s slogan ‘The free ride is over’ is eerily reminiscent of Mussolini’s ‘mutilated victory’, which referenced Italy’s ostensible ‘betrayal’ by the Allied powers after their victory in the First World War.

Informit: Matteo Salvini: Leader of Italy’s ‘Fright’ wing

Just over a year ago, in an article in 'Arena Magazine' following the Italian elections, I expressed my fears that Italy's new coalition government could push the country to the far right. In the aftermath of the European elections it appears that this feared outcome has materialised.

Informit: ‘Mussolini is inside each one of us’

In February 2018 a satirical film released in Italy entitled I'm Back used an actor dressed as Benito Mussolini to portray the return of the dictator to contemporary Italy. In some 'documentary' scenes the imitation Mussolini rides between Rome's ancient and modern monuments on the back of a Vespa. Apparently unwitting bystanders greet him with mixed responses. Some take selfies with him, others give the Fascist salute, still others protest, but there are also those…

Reflections on Pasolini’s ‘Weeping Excavator’, by Gerardo Papalia

Capitalism and the destruction of the sacred

Informit: Pasolini’s ‘Weeping excavator’

Those who have heard of Pier Paolo Pasolini in the English-speaking world are most likely to know of him as a director of controversial films. However, Pasolini, who was born in Bologna in 1922 and murdered on the outskirts of Rome in 1975, started his creative life as a writer of poetry and prose. His work often reflected a struggle to reconcile his contradictions: he was gay and yet he proclaimed his faithfulness to Catholic…