Gli esordi della geografia politica italiana e gli scritti di Ernesto Massi

This article provides an analysis on the origins of Italian political geography. In his works Massi claims that Italian geopolitics had originated in Trieste,when he came across from Germany the Zeitschrift für Geopolitik of Karl Haushofer.He describes the development of the school of geopolitics from 1930 to 1938, duringa period in Italy when there was only the “dynamic political geography”. In Trieste,nascent Italian geopolitical ideas blended geopolitical theories coming from Germanyand France. It was an intermingling of politics and academic traditions emergingfrom the philosophical theories of Giambattista Vico and Renaissance ideas, until theGreat War, upon which Italian geopolitics developed. In 1928, with his inauguralacademic speech “La Geografia come scienza utilitaria”, Roletto traced a history ofgeographical ideas in Italy along with speeches of his colleagues from other Italianuniversities. He emphasized the utilitarian applications of geography for the development of “a geographical spirit and geographical conscience”. Massi was moulded byGiorgio Roletto, who introduced him at the French geography and geopolitics, especially with the Vidalien school and his friendship at the University of Grenoble: RaoulBlanchard. The journal “Geopolitica” was published in January 1939 with the helpof Father Agostino Gemelli, who introduced Massi and Roletto in the presence of theMinister of Education Giuseppe Bottai. “Geopolitica” was published from 1939 until1942, but with the defeat of the Axis powers, Italian geopolitics disappeared forever.