January 13: the fascist police vanquishes the Turin Giustizia e libertà group.
January 19: Italian troops seize the oasis of
Kufra, center of the Libyan insurgents’ resistance
February 11:
Pius XI. receives Mussolini in Vatican for the third anniversary of the
Lateran treaty; the visit signs the rapprochement of Church and fascism, after the contrasts about the
Azione Cattolica.
April 9: The
FIAT 508 Balilla, the first Italian people's car, is presented at the Milan Auto Show.
May 5: in Ferrara, 2. Conference of unionist and corporatist studies; in the debate, socialist idea emerges, as the “owner corporations” proposed by
Ugo Spirito.
June 17: the antifascists
Angelo Sbardellotto and
Domenico Bovone are shot in Rome, the first for having planned the Mussolini's assassination, the second for some demonstration dynamite attacks.
July 20: cabinet reshuffle. The ministers
Dino Grandi (Foreign Affairs) and
Giuseppe Bottaii (Corporations) resign and Mussolini takes on personally their tasks. Grandi becomes Italian ambassador in London.
September 5: International
Stresa conference begins.
In 1932, the
Great Depression touches its peak in Italy too. The unemployed are officially a million (a quarter of the workforce) but the real cipher is even higher; the industrial production is 85% of the one in 1929. The fascist regime answers with a politic of dirigisme, encouraging fusions and business alliances (Law 834) and realizing great public Works, widely publicized but insufficient to solve the problem. The deficit of the state passes from 504 million liras (budget year 1931) to 3 billion 587 million liras.[2]
The ICO becomes a S. A. and changes name in
Olivetti S. p. A.; the direction passes from
Camillo Olivetti to the son
Adriano. The firm presents MP1, the first portable typewriter.
Stampe dell’Ottocento (Nineteenth-century engravings) – by
Aldo Palazzeschi.
Singolare avventura di viaggio (Strange travel adventure) – by
Vitaliano Brancati; the book is forbidden by the fascist censure for its erotic content.
Cesare Pavese begins its literary work, with Ciau Masin (a collection of poems and tales, published posthumously) and the translation of
Moby Dick.
The Neapolitan De Filippo brothers (
Eduardo,
Titina and
Peppino) get fame nationwide, thanks to the success of Natale in Casa Cupiello (premiered in Christmas 1931.) In the year, the company stages three new plays (Ditegli sempre di sì, Gennariniello, Chi è cchiu' felice 'e me!) and seven single acts by Eduardo, beyond various pieces by Peppino and other authors.[3]
Cinema
In 1932, the Italian cinema is, overall, in a period of stasis with 18 feature films produced and only 2 companies active (
Cines and
Caesar Film). Cines under the direction of the writer
Emilio Cecchi produces a series of valuable art documentaries and establishes a
dubbing studio of its own (previously, the Italian versions of the foreign movies were realized abroad).
Renè Clair's A nous la libertè is the first film dubbed in Italy, with the voice of
Gino Cervi.
Two films are on a higher level: The table of the poor, by Alessandro Blasetti, a dramedy about the Naples fallen noblemen and What scoundrel men are! by Mario Camerini, idyll between two commoners, a car-driver, and a saleswoman. The Camerini's film, considered a forerunner of
neo-realism, makes the young protagonist
Vittorio de Sica a movie star and launches the song Parlami d’amore Mariù.