Rino Bianchi, Igiaba Scego, Roma Negata – percorsi postcoloniali nella città, 2020

In the ’30s of the last century Asmara, Mogadishu, Macallè, Tripoli, Adua were familiar names to the Italians. The propaganda for the empire wanted by Benito Mussolini had been beating and obsessive. From goose games to school notebooks, not to mention the parades, everything smelled of colonies. Little or nothing is now known about that history. Even if in Italy there is a strong presence of those who come from those colonized African lands. There are Eritreans, Libyans, Somalis and Ethiopians. The book takes up the issue of colonial oblivion and thematizes it through a number of places in Rome that bear traces of that disregarded past. The monuments in fact, more than other things, speak to us of this history, where the shadows are more than the lights. So an emotional analysis of the places chosen to celebrate Italian colonialism comes to life, through a narrative text and photographs. In each photo, along with the monument, a person belonging to that Africa that Italy has invaded and forgotten is portrayed. A sort of re-appropriation of history by those who were subordinate. A reappropriation to finally build a decolonized, multicultural and inclusive Italy, where every citizen can finally be himself.