The World Cup 1982. Football and National Identity in Italy. History, Framing, Memory.

The Emilio Goggio Chair in Italian Studies is pleased to invite you to a public lecture by Prof. John Foot on the 1982 Men's Football World Cup.

About the Presentation:

This lecture will re-examine Italy’s triumph in the 1982 Men’s Football World Cup in the light of that event’s framing and its memory. It will use contemporary theories of national identity drawn from the work of Alberto Banti to argue that football inspires ‘deep emotions’ which can create a strong connection to ‘an idea of Italy’. The presentation will examine the tournament itself, the role of various protagonists in that event, and the appearance on the scene of President Sandro Pertini, whose figure became inextricably linked to the 1982 victory. The paper will also place 1982 in the context of a country whose economy was in rapid transformation, and where that victory would be a part of a new image of the country linked to ‘Made in Italy’ branding which would last right up to the hosting of the 1990 World Cup and beyond.

About the Presenter:

John Foot is Professor of Modern Italian History in the University of Bristol and currently Goggio Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies at the University of Toronto. He has also worked in UCL and in Australia. He has published a number of books relating to contemporary Italian culture and history including studies of Italy’s divided memory, sport (Italian football and cycling), radical psychiatry and Franco Basaglia and fascism as well as a history of post-1945 Italy.

This event is sponsored by the Emilio Goggio Chair in Italian Studies