Simonetta Polenghi

Italian academic pedagogical magazines in the history of education in the XX century

Keywords: Italian academic pedagogical magazines, extensive historical works, educational publishing houses This paper aims to reconstruct the main strands of Italian educational thought using academic pedagogical magazines as a mirror for scientific and political developments through the years. I shall follow a chronological order, indicating the main changes which have occurred in Italy since its unification, concentrating on cultural turns and academic shifts. Pedagogical and school magazines have been the object of quite a number of extensive historical works, followed by other studies on school and educational publishing houses. Giorgio Chiosso has been the leading figure in this research for many years, having directed national projects in pedagogical journals and publishing houses, which have provided important historical tools, such as the catalogues of Italian school and educational magazines 1820-1945 (Chiosso, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1997) and the catalogues of Italian pedagogical publishing houses in the XIX and XX centuries (Chiosso, 2003a, 2008). Whilst the pedagogical magazines before and after unification have been carefully catalogued, the educational journals of Republican Italy have yet to be researched. An updated short biography and bibliography of the quoted educationalists can be found in the recent biographical dictionary directed by Chiosso and Sani (2013).

Remembering School Through Movies: The Films of the Book Cuore (1886) in Republican Italy

Cuore (Heart) (1886) is the imaginary diary of Enrico, a pupil in the 3rd form of an elementary school in Turin, in 1881–82. Written by E.De Amicis, brilliant journalist and writer, patriot and socialist, Cuore is one of the most popular Italian books for children. De Amicis’ aim was to teach moral and civic secular values, such as patriotic feeling, love and respect for family, solidarity among social classes and above regional differences, obedience to authority and the values of work, of duty, of sacrifice. This essay focuses on the four Italian movies (1948, 1973)/TV serials (1984, 2001) on Cuore, hence on how a masterpiece of children’s literature that has long embodied a model of school has been newly presented on the screen, with what changes and with what success with audiences. Two levels are considered: the correlation between the movies and the book and between both the movies and the book and society. This analysis will at last return the image of an imaginary school, partially corresponding to the one of Cuore, retaining and altering it in order to propose a model of school, which the audience could recognize both as the traditional good one and as one valid for the present.