The historiography surrounding the intention, immediate consequences and long-term impacts of resistance to Nazi occupation during the Second World War has been subject to claim and counter-claim in Italy, as it has in other European countries. The using approaches developed by scholars of Asia, the present study aims to shed new light on a chapter of resistance history that continues to be controversial.
The study investigates rural resistance to the Nazi occupation of Central Italy during 1943-44 by examining the circumstances, causes and consequences of resistance in the rural communities of the Val d’Orcia in the Tuscan province of Arezzo. Contemporary popular commemorations of local resistance in this area crystallise its memory into the events of a single day. Using the conceptual framework of everyday politics and an area studies approach I assess this area’s broader community involvement in resistance, and raise new questions about celebrated events and thus to consider the potential historical significance of those events in the context of the Nazi occupation of Central Italy.