An anachronistic Republic, a reactionary Right and an embryonic Fascism: Spain in the Italian diplomatic reports, 1931-1936

Abstract

This essay analyses the perception of Spanish affairs by the Italian ambassadors and charges d’affaires to the Spanish Republic. Their reports offered a biased view due to their prejudice against the anachronism of a parliamentary republic and by their Italian sense of superiority, increased by the supposed successes of fascism, but they do not lack of interest for that reason. They were good observers and had good connexions with Spanish right-wing circles, whose weaknesses they knew well, and therefore their testimony is reliable, especially on the origins of Spanish fascism.