Nemico oppure alleato? La nuova identità italiana e tedesca durante la Grande Guerra nelle memorie dei corrispondenti dalla Germania

This paper examines the memoirs written by Italian correspondents abroad during the Great War years. These written productions represent an important source for analysing the changing perception of Italian and German identity during the World War. The ego-documents reflect and narrate, without restriction, the moods, and events of the journalists at a historical moment when Italian identity began to be perceived as an enemy to be fought or an ally to be conquered. When the First World War broke out in July 1914, many Italian correspondents decided to remain in the various foreign countries where they had been living for a few years to continue reporting the news of the ongoing war events. If in their articles one can observe a certain detachment in the narration of what is happening, in the memoirs published by the correspondents, one can see the disappointment and resentment felt for Italy in Germany. In particular, the paper focuses on the memoirs written by Mario Mariani and Amedeo Morandotti, both correspondents from Germany.