Volpe, Gioacchino

Born Feb. 16, 1876, in Paganica, Aquila Province. Italian historian. General secretary of the Italian Royal Academy (1929-34).

In early 20th-century Italian historiography Volpe created and stood at the head of the so-called economic-juridical school, which engaged in studies, for the most part, of medieval history. His fundamental works dealt with the history of the Italian Middle Ages (the communal period, heretical movements, etc.). Volpe also wrote a number of works on the period of the Risorgimento. He attached himself to the fascists and became their ideologist in historiography when they came to power in 1922. The official fascist version of the history of modern Italy is most fully reflected in the book Italy on the Way (1927), in which Volpe depicts fascism as the last logical link in the unification of Italy. After World War II he revised and extended the book, publishing it under the title Modern Italy.