University Residential Colleges in the Fascist Period in Italy. A Model of Fascistization and Control of Students in the 1930s

Abstract

In the contemporary era, university residences in Italy have been important centers of aggregation for students, and a relevant subject in the broader national debate on the development of universities, also with regard to the relationship between center and periphery, and the issue of public and private funding at the local and national levels, in different historical moments. This contribution examines the years of the Fascist period during which the Students’ Houses – this was the name used in Italy – grew in numbers, firstly as elements of control by the Fascist regime over the activities of university students, and then as places for the fascistization of both Italian and foreign students, at the hands of the Fascist University Groups, who organized and managed the Houses. The text analyzes the evolution of university residences, highlighting the key moments in the development of these places of student sociability. It examines the phases of construction and enlargement of the houses by the academic authorities in the framework of the construction agreements encouraged by Fascism; the forms of control over the students, who were guaranteed access only if enrolled in the Fascist university organization; the introduction of the racial laws of 1938, when Jews were expelled from universities, starting precisely with the university residences.