«Italy, the land of beauty and art». The Italian landscape and cultural heritage in the books and the primary school textbooks from the Fascist period to the II postwar period: between national identity and sense of citizenship

This essay aims to place its focus on the ways through which the primary school textbooks have resorted to the Italian cultural and natural heritage, in order to promote national identity and sense of citizenship among younger generation, with specific reference to the period between the twenty years of Fascism and the II post-war period. The author, in his research, examines over a hundred texts from reading books, primary school textbooks of History and Geography and geographical albums, among the ones more used in the Italian schools, from the first until the fifth final class, between 1923 and 1955.