The Italian Dopolavoro ferroviario: origins, organisation and social life during the fascist ventennio (1925–40)

Abstract

The article explores the development and functioning of the Dopolavoro ferroviario (DLF), a Fascist leisure organisation for Italian railway workers. Although originally created as part of the Ferrovie dello Stato (State Railways), the DLF was rooted in a longstanding tradition of workers’ associations and became a means of managing leisure time, offering educational, welfare and recreational activities. Through its cultural and educational programmes, sporting activities and organised tourism, it sought to regulate collective behaviour and promote a model of sociability aligned with fascist objectives. At the same time, the DLF offers valuable insights into the tensions between consent and dissent, highlighting both the regime’s ability to penetrate the railway sector and the persistence of spaces of autonomy and resistance. Drawing on original research, the article argues that the DLF served as a laboratory for political and cultural socialisation, the legacy of which – stripped of its ideological framework – continued to shape Italian society in the republican era.