Comics and colonial propaganda in Italy

the strips of Corriere dei Piccoli (1908-1937)

Abstract

An analysis of Italian comics in the colonial and fascist era is developed. In the history of
Italian comics it is undoubtedly necessary to highlight the trajectory of propaganda aimed
at children, published by the weekly Corriere dei Piccoli, a supplement to the Corriere
della Sera newspaper. Without pretending to write a complete history, it analyses some
of these comics (Bilbolbul, Romolino and Remoletto, Nel cuore dell'Africa) in order to
understand how racism in its Italian forms manifests itself, on the one hand, and how
colonial propaganda articulates itself, on the other. To this end, it mainly analyses
material from Corriere dei Piccoli, whose publication began in 1908, closing in 1960. The
proposal covers the period between the founding of the magazine and 1937, the year
before the enactment of the Racial Laws in Italy. To this end, the article develops through
a bibliographical research to tell the origins of Corriere dei Piccoli, analysing the strips
as indications of the colonial trajectory in comics.