The Crisis of the «Agrarian block», the Peasants, and the South in the Interpretation of Italian History

This essay investigates the reflections and political and cultural action of Rosario Villari, starting from his early elaboration of the Gramscian concept of «agrarian block», and ending with the Italian crisis during the 1970s. Between historiographic interpretation and political militancy, Villari looked constantly to Italy’s history and to its present, with particular attention to the South and the role played by the Italian Communist Party, with the aim of giving shape and content to the action of the emerging peasant masses in the Republican state.