Franco’s Spain and Italy’s Christian Democracy: The Anti-Francoism of the Italian Magazine Politica (1955–1968)

Abstract

This paper sets out to study the transnational relations between progressive sectors of the Italian and Spanish Catholic worlds. The aim is to focus on various groups of Italian Catholics who took action against the Spanish dictatorship between 1955 and 1968. To this end, the paper examines Politica, a magazine of the Christian Democratic left and an important publication that criticised both Spanish and Italian Catholicism for appeasing the Francoist dictatorship. The magazine served as the mouthpiece of one of the most dynamic sectors among the new generations of Christians committed to the renewal of Italian politics. Moreover, this current of Christian Democracy was bolstered by the local government activities of Giorgio La Pira, the emblematic mayor of Florence between 1951 and 1964, who embodied a political praxis of staunch commitment to the underclasses and in favour of peace in the world.