Abstract

In the late '1+s, with the approach of WWII, the Fascist regime launched a plan for repatriation of Italians abroad, directed especially to Italian immigrants in France, Corsica and Tunisia. The Italian consulates were charged with selecting the "good Italians" worthy of enjoying special assistance promised by the government, while a special commission was established to coordinate and facilitate the repatriation and the initial accommodation of these so-called "returnees". To provide homes for those who were coming to Rome, two neighbourhoods were built. Drawing on different sources, collected in Italy - mainly in Rome - and in France, and through the case study of Trullo, the "suburb" ("borgata") for returnees, the article focuses on the variety of means of responding mentally and emotionally, and also materially, to the relocation to Italy. In doing this, the essay tackles the category of "return" and proposes to reframe, from a particular and close perspective, the conundrum of "identity".