Contained in:
Book Chapter

Medici Ambitions and Fascist Policies. (Re)reading the Relations between Italy and the Levant in the 1930s through the Historiography on Fakhr al-Dīn II

  • Davide Trentacoste

On 13 April 1635, Druze emir Fakhr al-Dīn Maʿn was executed in Constantinople, after years of ambiguous relations with the Ottoman sultan. Exactly three centuries later, a biography of the emir was published in Rome, edited by Maronite father Paolo Carali and financed by the Fascist government. The reason why Fascism was interested in his figure can be traced back to the policy implemented by Italy in the 1930s, which sought to penetrate the territories of Lebanon and Syria. However, these were regions in which Fascist Italy had no real interest or claim, and so it sought to build a tie between the Levant and Italy by rereading the historiography of the relationship between “Faccardino” and Medici Tuscany at the beginning of the seventeenth century. By comparing the policies of the Medici and Fascism, it will be possible to highlight how, through Carali’s work, the latter sought to construct a history that would support its ambitions towards the eastern Mediterranean.

  • Keywords:
  • Fakhr al-Dīn Maʿn,
  • Lebanon,
  • Grand Duchy of Tuscany,
  • Fascism,
  • Italian-Levantine relations,
+ Show More

Davide Trentacoste

University of Teramo, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-0303-9344

  1. Abu-Izzeddin, Nejla M. 1984. The Druzes. A new Study of Their History, Faith and Society. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
  2. Alberti, Maria. 1997. “Un emiro alla corte dei granduchi. Feste e spettacoli a Firenze in onore di Faccardino, Gran Signore de’ Drusi (1613-1615).” Medioevo e Rinascimento XI, 8: 281–300.
  3. Alberti, Maria. 2016. “La scoperta del teatro. Spettacoli alla corte medicea (1614-15) descritti da uno spettatore d’eccezione: l’emiro druso Fakhr ad-Dīn.” In Grand Ducal Medici and the Levant. Material Culture, Diplomacy and Imaginery in the Early Modern Mediterranean, edited by Maurizio Arfaioli, and Marta Caroscio, 113–24. Turnhout: Brepols.
  4. Reale Accademia d’Italia. 1934. Annuario della Reale Accademia d’Italia V 1932-1933. Roma: Reale Accademia d’Italia.
  5. Arielli, Nir. 2010. Fascist Italy and the Middle East, 1933-40. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
  6. Benigni, Elisabetta. 2014. “Terre cristiane e confini d’Europa: il viaggio di Fakhr al-Dīn al-Ma‘nī II (1613-1618) fra le sponde del Mediterraneo.” In Miscellanea arabica 2013-2014, edited by Angelo Arioli, 105–24. Ariccia: Aracne Editore. <https://www.academia.edu/12143094/Terre_cristiane_e_confini_d_Europa_il_viaggio_di_Fakhr_al_D%C4%ABn_al_Ma_n%C4%AB_II_1613_1618_fra_le_sponde_del_Mediterraneo>.
  7. Brege, Brian. 2021. Tuscany in the Age of Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  8. Cantalupo, Roberto. 1928. L’Italia musulmana. Roma: La Voce.
  9. Carali, Paolo. 1936a. Fakhr ad-Dīn II principe del Libano e la corte di Toscana 1605-1635. Volume I. Introduzione storica – documenti europei e documenti orientali tradotti. Roma: Reale Accademia d’Italia.
  10. Carali, Paolo. 1936b. “Soggiorno di Fakhr ad-dīn al-Ma‘nī in Toscana, Sicilia e Napoli e la sua visita a Malta (1613-1618).” Annali dell’Istituto Superiore Orientale di Napoli VIII, 4: 15–60.
  11. Carali, Paolo. 1938. Fakhr ad-Dīn II principe del Libano e la corte di Toscana 1605-1635. Volume II. Documenti orientali – introduzione storica e documenti europei tradotti o riassunti in arabo. Roma: Reale Accademia d’Italia.
  12. Carocci, Giampiero. 1969. La politica estera dell’Italia fascista (1925-1928). Bari: Laterza.
  13. Chebli, Michel. 1984. Fakhreddine II Maan, Prince du Liban (1572-1635). Beirut: Publications de l’Université Libanaise.
  14. Cuffaro, Rosangela. 2010. “Fakhr ad-Din II alla corte dei Medici (1613-1615): Collezionismo, architettura e ars topiaria tra Firenze e Beirut.” Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft 37: 209–17. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/41445826>.
  15. Daftary, Farhad. 1998. A short history of the Ismailis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  16. De Felice, Renzo. 1988. Il fascismo e l’Oriente. Bologna: Il Mulino.
  17. Dueck, Jennifer M. 2010. The Claims of Culture at Empire’s End. Syria and Lebanon under French Rule. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  18. El Bibas, Kaled. 2010. L’Emiro e il Granduca. Le vicende dell’emiro Fakhr ad-Dīn II del Libano nel contesto delle relazioni fra la Toscana e l’Oriente. Firenze: Le Lettere.
  19. Firro, Kais M. 1992. A History of the Druzes. Leiden-New York-Köln: E. J. Brill.
  20. Firro, Kais M. 2004. “Lebanese Nationalism versus Arabism: From Bulus Nujaym to Michel Chiha.” Middle Eastern Studies 40, 5: 1–27.
  21. Girard, Aurélien. 2013. “Entre croisade et politique culturelle au Levant: Rome et l’union des chrétiens syriens (première moitié du XVIIe siècle).” In Papato e politica internazionale nella prima età moderna, edited by Maria Antonietta Visceglia, 419–37. Roma: Viella.
  22. Gorton, Ted J. 2014. Renaissance Emir: A Druze Warlord at the Court of the Medici. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press.
  23. Griswold, William. 1983. The Great Anatolian Rebellion, 1000-1020/1591-1611. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag.
  24. Haddad, Elie. 2007. “Between Myth and Reality: The ‘Tuscan Influence’ on the Architecture of Mount Lebanon in the Emirate Period.” Journal of Design History 20, 2: 161–71.
  25. Hazran, Yusri. 2009. “Between Authenticity and Alienation: The Druzes and Lebanon’s History.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 72, 3: 459–87.
  26. Heyberger, Bernard. 2009. “Abramo Ecchellense (1605-1664). I maroniti, Livorno e la Toscana.” In Livorno 1606-1806. Luogo d’incontro tra popoli e culture, edited by Adriano Prosperi, 430–37. Torino: Allemandi.
  27. Jouplain, M. (Bulus Nujaym) 1908. La question du Liban, étude d’histoire diplomatique et de droit international. Paris: Arthur Rousseau.
  28. Khoury, Philip S. 1987. Syria and the French Mandate. The Politics of Arab Nationalism 1920-1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  29. Longrigg, Stephen H. 1958. Syria and Lebanon under French Mandate, London: Oxford University Press.
  30. Marcocci, Giuseppe. 2014. “L’Italia nella prima età globale (ca. 1300-1700).” Storica 60: 7–50.
  31. Mariani, Alessio. 2016. “Un Emiro alla corte dei Medici.” May 2016. <https://www.lintellettualedissidente.it/controcultura/storia/un-emiro-alla-corte-dei-medici/>.
  32. Mariti, Giovanni. 1787. Istoria di Faccardino Grand Emir dei Drusi. Livorno: St. T. Masi.
  33. Matthee, Rudi. 2014. “The Ottoman-Safavid War of 986-998/1578-1590: Motives and Causes.” International Journal of Turkish History 20, 1–2: 1–20. <https://www.academia.edu/9228320/The_Ottoman-Safavid_War_of_986-998_1578-90_Motives_and_Causes>.
  34. Mercan, Özden. 2020. “Medici-Ottoman relations during the late Renaissance.” Mediterranean Historical Review 35, 2: 169–88.
  35. Mossi, Antonio. 1603. Lettera d’Antonio Mossi Fiorentino alla Santità di N. S. papa Clemente VIII.... Fiorenza: Appresso Volcmar Timan.
  36. Mossi, Antonio. 1604. Discorsi di Antonio Mossi Fiorentino sopra il predire la rouina del regno ottomanno. Fiorenza: Volcmar Timan.
  37. Nava, Santi. 1931. Il problema dell’espansione italiana ed il Levante islamico. Padova: CEDAM.
  38. Olsaretti, Alessandro. 2005. “Trade, diplomacy and state formation in the early modern Mediterranean: Fakhr al-Dīn II, the Sublime Porte and the court of Tuscany.” PhD diss., McGill University. <https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/nk322d538>.
  39. Olsaretti, Alessandro. 2008. “Political Dynamics in the Rise of Fakhr al-Din, 1590-1633: Crusade, Trade, and State Formation along the Levantine Coast.” The International History Review 30, 4: 709–40.
  40. Parini, Pietro. 1934. “Istituzioni culturali italiane nel Levante europeo e mediterraneo.” In L’Italia e il Levante, edited by Tomaso Sillani, 168–78. Roma: La Rassegna Italiana.
  41. Piras, Mauro. 2011. “Politica islamica e propaganda fascista in Siria e in Libano (1932-1940).” PhD diss., University of Cagliari.
  42. Quartararo, Rosaria. 1979. “L’Italia e lo Yemen. Uno studio sulla politica di espansione italiana nel Mar Rosso (1923-1937).” Storia Contemporanea X, 4–5: 811–71.
  43. Rossiello, Antonio. 2017. “Quando nei paesi arabi i riferimenti ideali erano Mussolini e il fascismo”. 23 December 2017. <https://www.ilprimatonazionale.it/approfondimenti/nei-paesi-arabi-riferimenti-ideali-mussolini-fascismo-77384/>.
  44. Salibi, Kamal S. 1959. Maronite Historian of Medieval Lebanon. Beirut: American University of Beirut.
  45. Salibi, Kamal S. 1988. A House of Many Mansion. The History of Lebanon Reconsidered. London: I. B. Tauris.
  46. Scham, Sandra A. 2015. “The Legacy of Fakhreddine II—Renaissance Prince of Mount Lebanon.” Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies 3, 4: 428–38.
  47. Tamborra, Angelo. 1961. Gli stati italiani, l’Europa e il problema turco dopo Lepanto. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki Editore.
  48. Trentacoste, Davide. 2021a. “Grand-Ducal ambitions and Venetian counter-intelligence. The Tuscan failure in the 1607 attack on Cyprus.” Revista Historia Autónoma 18: 59–74.
  49. Trentacoste, Davide. 2021b. “Granducato di Toscana e Persia Safavide: informazione, politica e diplomazia mediterranea e levantina nel XVII secolo.” PhD diss., Università degli Studi di Teramo-Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3. <https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03237404>.
  50. Vacca, Virginia. 1931. “Statistiche sull'analfabetismo negli Stati sotto Mandato.” Oriente Moderno XI: 94.
  51. Van Leeuwen, Richard. 1992. “The Origin of an Image. Fakhr al-Din Ma’n’s Exile in Tuscany (1613-1618).” In The Power of Imagery. Essays on Rome, Italy and Imagination, edited by Peter Van Kessel, 48–62. Roma: Apeiron Editori.
  52. Williams, Manuela. 2006. Mussolini’s Propaganda Abroad. Subversion in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. London: Routledge.
  53. Zamir, Meir. 1985. The Formation of Modern Lebanon. London: Croom Helm.
  54. Zamir, Meir. 1997. Lebanon’s Quest. The Road to Statehood 1926-1939. London: I.B. Tauris.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2022
  • Pages: 141-160
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2022 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2022
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2022 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Medici Ambitions and Fascist Policies. (Re)reading the Relations between Italy and the Levant in the 1930s through the Historiography on Fakhr al-Dīn II

Authors

Davide Trentacoste

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-579-0.09

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2022

Copyright Information

© 2022 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Rereading Travellers to the East

Book Subtitle

Shaping Identities and Building the Nation in Post-unification Italy

Editors

Beatrice Falcucci, Emanuele Giusti, Davide Trentacoste

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

232

Publication Year

2022

Copyright Information

© 2022 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-579-0

ISBN Print

978-88-5518-578-3

eISBN (pdf)

978-88-5518-579-0

eISBN (epub)

978-88-5518-580-6

Series Title

Connessioni. Studies in Transcultural History

Series ISSN

2975-0393

Series E-ISSN

2975-0261

255

Fulltext
downloads

367

Views

Export Citation

1,350

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

2,262

Book Chapters

3,844,147

Fulltext
downloads

4,424

Authors

from 925 Research Institutions

of 65 Nations

65

scientific boards

from 348 Research Institutions

of 43 Nations

1,248

Referees

from 380 Research Institutions

of 38 Nations