La città immaginata. Le Estati romane e "la stagione dell'effimero" (1976-85)

The research analyzes the cultural policies of the "giunte rosse" (1976-85) as they have been promoted in Rome by the communist councilor for culture Renato Nicolini, and aims at observing in a new light the broader context of republican Italy between the 1970s and 1980s. Overall neglected within the state of art, the Estati romane allow pivotal historiographical junctions to emerge against the backdrop of the crucial transition between the two decades: the relationship between youth cultures and institutions, the role of cultural consumption in contemporary urban space, the influence of mass culture in the construction of subjectivity, the dialectic between political cultures, the public sphere and the spectacle. A methodological approach which combines cultural studies, political history and urban studies crosses the reading of the main political cultures, showing a change in the interpretative paradigms of entire sectors of Italian society. Based on unpublished archival documentation, the research shows the "ephemeral season" as a watershed towards the growing demand for cultural events in the urban dimension and in the public space of contemporary Italy.