Simona Colarizi

Born in Modena on December 25, 1944, Simona Colarizi graduated in 1967 with honors in Modern History, defending a thesis on "The Origins of Fascism in Puglia." Over the following two years, with a CNR scholarship, she participated in research directed by Professor Renzo De Felice on "Party, State, and Civil Society in Fascist Italy." In 1970, she was appointed professor of History of Trade Unionism and the Labor Movement at the Faculty of Law - Degree Course in Political Science - of the University of Camerino, and began her long academic career. In 1973, she was awarded a second teaching position in the History of Political Parties and Movements at the same faculty. Still in Camerino, in 1976 she won the competition for the chair of History of Political Parties and Movements and took on the role of associate professor at the Faculty of Law - Degree Course in Political Science. Two years later, she was appointed dean of the Faculty of Law, and in 1979 she became a full professor.
In 1983 he moved to Naples, where he first taught History of Political Parties and Movements and, from 1987, Contemporary History at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the Università degli Studi di Napoli, "Federico II", where he also served as a substitute teacher of History of Political Parties and Movements.
In 1992, she arrived at her final destination, Rome. She was appointed to the chair of Contemporary History at the Faculty of Sociology at Università "La Sapienza”. In 2000, she received her second important appointment: she became director of the Department of Innovation and Society (DIeS). A year later, she moved to the Faculty of Communication Sciences. Her third prestigious appointment was in 2005, when she was elected President of the Interfaculty Degree Course in Social Sciences of Cooperation, Development, and Relations between Peoples. She was later vice president of the Society for the Studies of Contemporary History (SISSCO), and from 2010 to 2015, she directed the doctoral program in "Political Languages." She has been professor emeritus since 2016.
In her extra-university work, she is currently the Scientific Director of the Giacomo Mancini Foundation Archive, a member of the Filippo Turati Foundation, the Francesco Saverio Nitti Foundation, and the Renzo De Felice Foundation – Ugo Spirito Institute. She is co-editor of the journal "Nova Storica" and sits on the scientific committees of the journals (A) "Mondo contemporaneo" and "XXI Secolo." Since 2012, she has been on the Board of the LUISS School of Government and since 2018, on the Board of Trustees of the Antonio Gramsci Foundation. Since 2019, she has been on the Scientific Committee of the M9 Museum for the History of Italy.

Scientific results

Her historical research focused on the origins of fascism, particularly at a regional level—a subject little explored in the late 1960s—through local archives and the national archives of the Ministry of the Interior. The same historical method of analyzing archival, printed, and bibliographic sources was applied to other research. She also studied the opposition of southern liberal democrats—Giorgio Amendola—on fascism, and then the general history of exiled anti-fascists. Finally, archival sources were invaluable for researching Italian public opinion during fascism. Archival, bibliographic, and printed sources were also essential for reconstructing the history of political parties in the post-World War II period, and an indispensable source—the Historical Archive of the "Corriere della Sera"—for the history of the Corriere during the liberal era. Twentieth-century European history was predominantly bibliographical, with English and French literature serving as the primary reference for this synthesis. The originality of Simona Colarizi's results in all of her research fields have been recognized by the scientific community and by the University, which awarded her the title of emeritus.