'A beautiful moment of bravery and hard work': Italian colonialism in post-1945 history high school textbooks

Italian colonialism in Africa has for some time been a largely neglected subject of study. The signing of the Paris Treaty of 1947, which deprived the country of its colonies, did not lead to critical debates, in Italy, around the issue. On the contrary, the post-war political elites continued to demand the restitution of those colonies, in continuity with previous regimes. The hagiographic and mythic image of colonialism that had been created by liberal and Fascist propaganda remained alive in Italian culture and society. This article analyses the continuities and ruptures in the treatment of colonial history offered by post-war high school history textbooks. Traditional discourses and imagery marked the way in which textbooks examined the nation's colonial past, distorting the reality of the past and contributing to the creation of a sense of innocence with regard to the Italian presence in Africa. © 2011 Association for the Study of Modern Italy.