A unique collection of materials relating to recent political events and trends in Italy.  Comprising three distinct sets, the collection focuses issues of national significance through the lens of developments in Tuscany and its capital city Florence.

• Regional elections in Tuscany (2015). These elections featured a strong right-wing challenge to the liberal party of then-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (a Florence native) and were marked by virulent xenophobia and anti-EU sentiment.
• Italian constitutional referendum (2016). Prime Minister Renzi staked his career on a referendum for major constitutional reform, which would have profoundly altered many aspects of governance and law-making in Italy.  The reforms, which were defeated by a large margin, were strongly opposed by right-wing and populist parties in Italy.
• Political participation in Florence.  Brings together ephemera and digitized internal documents of three organizations operating in Florence:
  • Comitato no TAV a Firenze. Un movimento decennale – a movement protesting the construction of a high-speed rail line in Northern Italy.
  • Un’altra città. L’attività della lista nel Consiglio comunale di Firenze – concerned with monitoring and critiquing urban development and its impact on the life and culture of the city.
  •  Coordinamento Democrazia costituzionale. Pre e post referendum – a group opposing the constitutional referendum.

Pictured below:  ephemera from the Coordinamento Democrazia costituzionale.

To learn more about the collection, please contact the AEOD.

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