Mauro Canali, “Follow the Oil: Italian Fascism and the Matteotti Murder”

The murder of the Italian Socialist politician Giacomo Matteotti in 1924 paved the way to the establishment of the Fascist dictatorship and to a fundamental reshaping of all institutions of the Italian state. In this lecture, geared in particular toward the NYC undergraduate population, famed historian Mauro Canali (whose classic study, The Matteotti Murder and Mussolini, has been recently published in English by Palgrave) will introduce students to his research, based on the trial records smuggled to London by Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani (1872-1946), the lawyer of the Matteotti family, as soon as it became clear that he, too, was a target of the Fascist regime.

Modigliani, a Jew from Livorno, was one of the founders of the Italian Socialist Party and of the first Italian union, and worked to develop and maintain strong ties with union and socialist activists in the US. Modigliani documented that Matteotti was investigating bribes from the American Sinclair Oil Company to the Italian government in exchange for the monopoly to drill on Italian soil and in the Italian colonies. The attorney’s relation to Matteotti, before the murder and during the trial, illuminates a complex map of alliances and conflicts between Italy and the United States.

This lecture will invite us to apprehend the Matteotti murder as a complex historical event, seizing the ways in which corruption and social struggles fluctuated between worlds that were politically and ideologically apart, and rethinking the nexus between edifying political narratives and the race to secure resources.

About Mauro Canali
Mauro Canali is a full professor of contemporary history at the University of Camerino, Italy, and a leading scholar of fascism. His extensive research delves into the repressive mechanisms of Mussolini’s regime, its totalitarian structure, and its system of informants. Prof. Canali has authored numerous acclaimed works, including Il delitto Matteotti and Le spie del regime, earning prestigious awards. He has held a visiting position at Harvard University and regularly contributes to Italian media and historical programming. He has written on the American press and Fascism and researched the role of oil and mineral resources in 20th-century warfare. Among his publications is Mussolini e il petrolio iracheno. L’Italia, gli interessi petroliferi e le grandi potenze (Mussolini and Iraqi oil: Italy, oil interests, and the great powers), 2007.