Dynamics, experiences and political meaning of the blackmarket in Second World War Italy

Abstract: Rationing and illegal food trade in Second World War Italy have received very little scholarly attention in comparison to the scale and impact they had on people’s daily life. This article contributes to filling this gap, first by providing an overview of the dynamics that already in the early years of the war determined the development of an illegal system of food trade. It then considers the experience of the black market through two wartime diaries, one published and the other unpublished, written by women of opposite political views, both living in Rome and its outskirts. The analysis of the diaries considers women’s attitudes towards the black market. The article argues that the Fascist propaganda of duty to the homeland, so intensively practised through domestic literature during the 1920s and 1930s, was again exploited in wartime in the discourse around the black market and hid the political responsibilities of the government.

Author(s): Patrizia Sambuco

Date Published: 25 October 2023

Depositing User: Selina Gondwe

DOI: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/mit.2023.56

Keywords: borsa nera 1941-45; wartime diaries; Second World War; Fascist food policies; Rome; black market

Page(s): 38-50

Publication Title: Modern Italy

Published URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-italy/article/dynamics-experiences-and-political-meaning-of-the-black-market-in-second-world-war-italy/F81FCC35A497E6FBA516A2EA8B7CFBB7

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Type of publication: Research Article