I think I know that Marxism had an impact on Italian politics, especially in the late to mid-twentieth century. I can't say with certainty at the moment, but I believe it also had lingering effects to this day on the country's policies. Though there is no longer a strong PCI (Italian Communist Party) or PSI (Italian Socialist Party), the country's policies do tend to be more left-wing or progressive in the Socialist way than here in the USA. I think that Bordiga will have a set ideology that will align with Marx's original philosophy more than that of Gramsci. I don't think that Marxism, apart from a few political movements, had much impact on Italy. I'm also unsure of what the reaction was of the majority of the public to such progressive leftist thought. I also think that there is a connection between Socialism and Fascism, considering that Mussolini was previously a Socialist before he became a Fascist. There's also a saying that Socialism and Fascism and two sides of the same coin. I want to know what exactly it is that connects the two to each other. Especially because from the way I interpret the two, Socialism (and even more with Communism) is all about breaking down barriers and creating a sense of community between all people of the world, while Fascism instead can be rooted with racism, sexism, or any other form of discrimination. It almost seems to uphold this concept of eugenics.
I know that Gramsci is the most influential Marxist in Italian history. There are hints of a sympathetic outlook on Stalin's reign in many of Gramsci's notes, giving me the idea that he was a Stalin sympathizer. I also know that Mussolini was a Socialist in his youth, and then something happened that pushed him toward Fascism. Though many might think that Mussolini was the one who created Fascism, I do believe it was actually some other Italian man, though I can't think of his name right now. I also know that it was Gramsci who first termed the word "hegemony", which means the dominance of a group or country over others.

10 things I don't know:

1. I don't know or understand the full history of Italy in the 1900s.

2. I don't know the fundamental ideology of the PCI and/or PSI.

3. I don't know how the PCI/PSI developed over time, and whether it still exists.

4. I don't know how popular Marx's ideas were in Italy.

5. I don't know whether other Orthodox Marxist ideologies had an impact on Italian Marxism.

6. I don't know to what extent the PCI/PSI had on Italian politics.

7. I don't know the correlations between Italian Fascism and Italian Socialism.

8. I don't know the role Socialism had in WWII, specifically for Italy.

9. I don't know if there were ever attempts in instituting a Socialist nation in Italy as there were in other countries (Russia, China, etc.).

10. I don't know if Socialist ideologies in Italy were more dogmatic or ambiguous.

I believe that my most important "I don't know" as of right now is my first one, the "I don't know or understand the full history of Italy in the 1900s". I know general things, like how Mussolini took control in 1922, following his march on Rome. From there, he began a dictatorship and would develop a political relationship with Germany's dictator, Hitler. He would invade parts of Northern Africa and would join the Second World War supporting the Axis side. Due to various different reasons, such as the war and Mussolini's support for Hitler's horrendous acts of violence, many Italians began resisting, effectively taking him out of power in 1943. I would also like to clarify the difference between Naziism and Fascism, as what Mussolini would espouse to was Fascism, and what Hitler is known for was his Naziism. I know that during Mussolini's reign, there were terrorist groups called "black shirts" who'd act out violently for Fascist purposes. I also know that a similar group was organized in the latter half of the 1900s, during my Dad's teenage years, but instead of terrorizing society for Fascist ideologies, it was for Communist ones. This group was called the Red Brigades. I've heard countless amounts of stories from my Dad about this terrorist group, as they were active while he was alive, but I never really did a deep dive into them. While I do believe that everything else on that list is just as important as the first, having an awareness of the social, political, and economical situation in Italy and its neighboring partners heavily influences the whys, whats, and hows of each answer.

What socio-politico events occurred in Italy from the late 19th century up to the present day?

Italy wasn't a unified country until 1871 when the movement of unification (called Risorgimento) was completed under the name of the Kingdom of Italy. The new government became a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, which is a system where a unitary state places its political power in a parliament and a prime minister. Under Prime Minister Agostino Depretis in 1876, a new movement took over Italy called Transformismo. In theory, this political idea stated that a cabinet should elect various different moderates without prior political biases, but in practice, it became authoritarian. Depretis would use Transformismo to leverage against districts and pressure them into voting for candidates in his favor. He would also leave Italy in debt through many of his liberal policies, such as the abolition of arrests for debt, making education at the elementary level free, and ridding of mandatory religious teachings in elementary schools. An agricultural crisis that happened simultaneously left many people in unsanitary living conditions, causing a major cholera epidemic to spread, which ended up killing up to 65,000 people. The government, being both new and in debt, caused it to be extremely ineffective in dealing with this crisis.
In the mid-80s, we can start seeing Italy getting more involved in foreign affairs, from their union into the Triple Alliance in 1887 to their partial involvement with the Spheres of Influence. The feelings of nationalism and Italian unification would continue to have a huge influence on the country's policies even during WWI. The country would join the Entente alliance, and in return acquire certain territories from Austria-Hungary that were mainly Italian-populated. Then, following the end of WWI, we see a split in the Italian population, with one side supporting Socialist movements and the other taking nationalism to an extreme (later labeled as Fascism). The struggle between the two ideologies would come down to a win for the Fascist Party, as the coup d'etat (called the March on Rome) led by Mussolini would effectively place him in power, commencing his dictatorship rule. Mussolini would remain in power until the end of WWII when he was forced out of power (more on his dictatorship policies can be found in the Analysis tab).
At the end of WWII, a lot of resentment against the monarchy for having endorsed a Fascist regime boiled. The new King at the time, Umberto II, was threatened with a Civil War, pushing him to call for a Constitutional Referendum, which would then hold a vote to end the Italian monarchy and replace it with a Republic. As of today, Italy just recently held its 2022 elections for a new Prime Minister. The winner was Giorgia Meloni, the first woman Prime Minister, who ran under the party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), which is a right-wing extremist. The party also has a lot of fascist roots. More on the particular political parties of Italy can be found in the Notes tab.

*Click here for my full notes