Abstract: In Antonio Pennacchi’s work, fascism is considered as a matter of identity: territorially, because the author is born in one of the “founding cities”, biographically, because of his political militancy in Msi (a neo-fascist party) and socially, because he considers the reclamation of the Pontine marshes as a Marxist reform. In this way, the representation of fascism is linked to the creation of an individual, family and territorial myth. The Peruzzi family’s history likewise takes place in the historical social context of the Fascist period until today (Canale Mussolini. Parte prima e Parte seconda; La strada del mare). However, the representation of fascism anachronistically goes beyond the limits of its historical relevance to extend as far as Neanderthal man, the prototype of an indefectibly lost historical-anthropological alternative (Le iene del Circeo; Camerata Neandertal) becoming a supra-historical and supra-temporal matter.
Key Words: fascism, Paludi Pontine, Pontine Marshes, identity, Latina, Pennacchi, memory, contemporary Italian literature.
