CORRADINI, ENRICO

(1865–1931)

   The founder and editor of the influential Florentine periodical Il Regno between 1903 and 1905, Enrico Corradini was one of the most widely read journalists and intellectuals in prefascist Italy. An ardent nationalist and implacably antisocialist, Corradini was as responsible as any Italian for diffusing the philosophy of power worship, hypernationalism, and contempt for parliamentary procedure that proved a fertile breeding ground for Fascism. Borrowing the language of his socialist adversaries, Corradini advanced the idea that Italy was a “proletarian nation,” robbed of its rightful role and position in world affairs by plutocratic nations such as Britain and, above all, France. Through this lens, imperialism became a substitute for socialism, an alchemic experience that would forge Italy as a strong, unified state and would solve the economic difficulties of the Mezzogiorno by providing a dignified outlet for emigration.

   In 1910, Corradini was one of the founders of the Italian nationalist movement and became editor of its newspaper, L’Idea nazionale (The National Idea). His was one of the loudest voices raised in support of intervention in May 1915, and he was one of Giovanni Giolitti’s most contemptuous critics during and after the war. Corradini supported the fusion of the nationalist movement with the Fascist Party in 1923 and served as a minister under Mussolini in 1928. He died in Rome in 1931.

   See also Press.