In the period when he was from 15 to 21 years old, Mario Romani attended the Youth association of the Catholic Action at the parish of San Pietro in Sala, in Milan. Relying above all on the memories by his fraternal friend Marco Agnesi, the essay tries to reconstruct some essential elements of his formative journey. The aim of this is to frame his experience in the context of the second half of the Thirties, between the Catholic «reconquest» project of the mass society and cultural perspectives that looked to the future; Romani’s group shared their time’s youthful life and experimented a peculiar combination of consensus and distinction towards the authoritarian regime.
This paper deals with the features of Mario Romani’s ‘educational biography’ during the first years of Fascism, starting from the reconstruction of the main religious and educational activities provided by the Fopponino recreation centre in Milan. Romani attended it firstly as pupil of the Scuola della Dottrina Cristiana and, later, as ‘pinuccio’ (an ‘aspirant’) of the Catholic Action. The offered readings, organized events and his experience as an educator, under the supervision of father Carlo Gnocchi, contributed effectively to lay the foundations for his personal development as a man, a Christian and scholar man.
In this essay, the teachings that Mario Romani carried out both at the Catholic University of Milan and outside as a professor of Economic History, his leading role in the Italian “trade union revival” in the period immediately after World War II within the CISL trade union led by Giulio Pastore, and his commitment in political institutions are highlighted as the elements of a single big project aiming for the emancipation of labour. What Romani tried to do – and partially managed to – was to start a process through which organized workers could become a recognized social force and therefore could be elevated to the same level as other forces to lead the country and to protect democracy.
This text examines Mario Romani’s cultural contribution to the history of trade unionism in Italy. Romani did not elaborate a new theory of trade unionism. The originality of his thought lies in having identified the role of the trade union in the relationship between democracy and capitalism. The analysis also looks at the interpretation of Romani’s works by Giovanni Marongiu.
This contribution analyses some stylized facts that have characterized the functioning of the labour market since the start of the European Monetary Union (EMU), and discusses the critical points which link the structure of collective bargaining to macroeconomic compatibilities and labour market performance.
This paper analyses the evolution of Economic History in Italy, inserting it into the larger context of the changes undergone by the other human and social sciences during the Twentieth century. In particular, this contribution highlights how the growing formalization of the economic science has ended up posing great problems precisely to Economic History. Faced with this situation, the only viable path for Economic History seems to be the rediscovery and valorisation of the methodologies belonging to historical sciences.
This contribution draws the general framework of a monographic edition constituted by eleven papers, which analyses just as many single personalities that were relevant for the Italian Economic History. Nowadays, the specific methods used by Economic History experts and scholars are excessively called into question. Nevertheless, this monographic edition wants to promote the role and the method of the above-mentioned discipline. Economic History is based on fundamental premises: History is made by men, by their actions influenced by their specific personalities and deep beliefs. Moreover, to understand what is going on in current years is necessary to analyse events and thoughts which, even if dated back to centuries ago, have a strong impact on the present.
Le giovanni donne sempre più lontane, i giovani in solitaria ricerca, il dovere degli adulti di mettersi in ascolto: Paola Bignardi racconta il libro-inchiesta "Dio, dove sei?".