Abstract

The aim of this paper is to build a general interpretation of the Fascist regime through the lens of citizenship. Recent literature increasingly started to question the development of the norms and practices around citizenship in modern Italy. Much attention has thus been devoted to citizenship and nationality in the early phases of Italian nation-building following the Unification and during the First World War. The fascist regime’s policies toward minorities or specific groups, on the other side, has often been analysed in separate compartments – as in the case of fascism’s attitude toward the Jews, the German population of South Tyrol, the ‘Slav population’ of the Northeastern border, antifascists, and women. This paper will consider these different aspects of fascist policies together in order to reach a general understanding of how fascism tried to build new ideological and national boundaries for the identification (and redefinition) of the Italian population.