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We have found information on several specific Italian summer camps. We only know about a few camps ad our information here is often sketchy. But we have begun to collect some basic information. We incourage our Italian readers to send along information about the camps they attended as children.
Italy invaded Ethiopia, at the time an independent country (1935). At the same time, Italy opened new summer camps for overseas Italians. Mussolini appointed Piero Parini General Secretary of Overseas Fascist Groups (1927). Large numbers of Italisans lived overseas. The largest group was in The United States, but there were substatial numbers in Argentina and other contries. The Fascist government founded a large number of summer camps for the Balilla. Among Paruni's various programs was one to organize summer camps (colonie) in Italy for the children of overseas Italians so they could learn more about Italy and promote Fascist ideology. International travel at the time was very costly. So vet few Italian chilkdreb from countries like America and Argentina attended. An Italian reader tells us, "I think that the camps was attended by Italians living in Europe and especially in Lybia and Mediterranean countries." There were quite a few Italians across the Adriatic in Yugoslavia and Albania. One of these camps were opened near Pisa for the Piccole Italiane. The "Piccole Italiane" were the girls' division of the Opera Nazionale Balilla (8 to 14 years of age). Older girls joined Giovani Italiane. Another was opened at Alpe del Cicerč for the Balilla boys. [Baldoli, p. 76.] We are not sure where that was, presumably somewhere in the north.
This photograph was taken during the 1930s during a summer camp in Acerno, about 90 km east of Naples. Despite the fact that Acerno is about 750 m above sea level in the Campania region of Southern Italy, the boys wear sailor style caps and rompers. At the time one of the goals of a summer camp was that the children stay in the sun most time of possible wearing as little clothing as possible. Fascist policy was to promote heliotherapy, both for health reasins and to toughen the boys. We are not sure what group sponsored this camp, but the teenage girl overseeing the boys wear a uniform with a Fascist look. THe boys wear a romper uniform. Given they they are dressed similarly, it is likely that the uniform was issued by the camp. Rimpers were worn by bous at the time in Italy, but usually by younger boys.
We have another camp image image taken in Avellino, a town near Naples, in 1959. These boys were leaving for e seaside summer camp (colonia estiva). They wore short pants, white t-shirts and white sailor caps. They wore also open-toe sandals with white ankle-socks. Today that looks strange, but at the time it looked more formal than without socks. A reader tells us, "I was in Colonia Estiva only a summer, in 1970. We left Milan wearing open-toe sandals with socks, but then we spent the whole month without socks."
Cattolica is a small Adriatic port town town north of Rome. It was used by pilgrims traveling thed Bologna-Ancona-Rome route, in particular those traveling Loreto sanctuary or to St. Peter's in Rome. Thus mumerous saloons and inns opened there. A fishing industry developed there (19th century). The beaches were of little interest until fairly recently, One of the first to admire them was Lucien Bonaparte, the Emperor's brother (1820s). The tourist industry developed in the 20th century, especially after World War I. The beaches are of course why the Balilla camp was opened here (1934). This was the camp which the Goverment developed as a show camp. A casa colonia at the camp grew food consumed by the children. [Baldoli, p. 76.]
We are not sure when the camp was established there, presumably some time during the Fascist era. WWe notice an all girls seaside summer camp (colonia) at during summer 1948. After World War II and the fall of Fascism, the girls no longer wore uniforms. Gatteo is a small Adriric port town south of Bologna. We are not sure who operated the camp after World War II, presumably some agency of the Italian Government. The Fascist summer camps were single gender facilities as the Balilla was organized along gender lines. We are not sure what has become of this camp, but most Italian summer camps today are mixed gender fscilities.
Here is a group of boys attending a summer camp (colonia estiva) along the coast in 1956 (figure 1). The camp was organized by a company for the children of its workers. It was in Lido di Camaiore near Tosacana (Florence). The boys have been provided a uniform by the camp.
We see a scene at a summer camp on Mount Ortobene in Sardinia during the 1920s. The summer camp was organized for the poorer children of the town of Nuoro. We can see that the children are climbing wearing their everyday clothing and in bare feet.
It could be that these children didn't own footwear and went barefoot all year round. That happened in some places on Sardinia until the 1960s, especially along the coast. Nuoro is, however, located an altitude of 600 meters above sea level and it usually snows every winter. These children probably owned boots or wooden shoes that they wore during the winter, spending the whole summer barefoot both to save the footwear and for comfort.
The Collegio di Casaglia was a private school in Bolonia, an industrial city in norther Italy. It was a boys' boarding school which presumably also had day boys. They had a uniform. Younger children which inckuded girls wore smocks with white Peter Pan collars. Older boys seem to have worn socks without the collars. We do not know nuch aboit it, but it seems to have included a British-style school cap. We also notice closed-toe sandals. The school had a summer camp for the boys. It was located at the seaside summer camp (colonia estiva) in Pinarella, a beach resort about 30 kms north of the better known Rimini resort. We see the Malaguit Brothers wearing the uniform of the summer camp: striped t-shirts and boxer-style short pants. We are not sure about the color, but blue and white seems likely. The striped t-shirts give the uniform a kind of sailor look. We don't know if the cap worn by the younger brother is part of the camp uniform. More likely it was part of their school uniform. It looks like a British-style school cap. It seems to have what looks like a long chin strap. Surely the uniforms were completed with the footwear when they left the beach, probably open toe sandals.
This photo was taken at a Balilla summer camp in San Giovanni in Croce, a village near Milan, during 1941. At the time, Italy had wentered World War II. The boys were required to wear only the uniform shortsngiven them. This was seen as helping to harden them up. Fascist propaganda also promoted heliotherapy. It was thought that sunshine was very healthy for children.
We notice a camp during the 1950s on the beach near Alghero (on the Sardinian West Coast). The photos were taken during a seaside summer camp (colonia marina). The colonia was organized by the government agency for the agrarian reform in Sardinia. This agency had the task to expropriate the untilled land and to assign it to peasant families. The children that attend the summer camp belonged to these families. Probably they didn't own swimming trunks, so on the beach they wore the underwear.
The photo shows a group of boys during 1961 at a colonia estiva (summer camp) in Calambrone, near Pisa (Tuscany region). Calambrone is a town along the Tirrenian Sea and the camp had a range of swimmin and other water activities. The camp was sponsored by a labor union--the "Unione Regionale delle Associazioni Industriali della Toscana (the Regional Union of Industrial Associations of Tuscany--U.R.A.I.T). The camp was for the workers' children. Note the naval themed uniforms. There seem to have been different uniforms the boys of different ages.
Here we see a camp at Putzu Idu on the Sardinian west coast (1967). It shows a group of boys partecipating in a seaside summer camp (colonia). The summer camp was organized by a local nuns order (the Evaristiane) for the local children, many from low-income families. The boys are wearing swimsuits, probably just before going for a swim.
Baldoli, Claudia. Exporting Fascism: Italian Fascists and Britain's Italians in the 1930s
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