Cultural activity and intellectual networks: Lisbon's Italian Cultural Institute from Fascism to the Second World War (1928–45)

Abstract

From the late 1920s onwards, Italian cultural diplomacy in Portugal was responsible for an increasing number of activities and initiatives directed at the Portuguese intellectual public. From Mussolini's perspective, the ideological ground shared by the Salazar regime and Italian Fascism meant that it was important for Italy to nourish links and exchanges with Portugal. This article examines cultural diplomacy in Lisbon, using one particular centre as the focus of analysis: the Italian Cultural Institute and its networking activities with intellectuals in the Portuguese regime. Within these transnational intellectual networks, a prominent role was taken by the Institute's successive directors between 1928 and 1945. These figures varied substantially in their biographical trajectories and seem to have exemplified the idiosyncrasies and contradictions of Fascist cultural policy in Portugal, which was one of a range of attempts, never fully realised, to export the idea of Italian Fascism.