Figure 1.--Here Italian children are attending a "campo solare" summr day camp in 1939. It was located in Caerano, a village about 60 km from Venice. The "M" they are forming, of course, stands for Mussolini. We are not sure though if it was a Balilla camp. Many Italian camps during the Fascist wera wwere sponsored by other grouos such as companies, municipalities, and trade unions.

There are Balilla summer camps, sometimes in seaside places, sometimes in the mountains, sometimes in the country near the towns. The photo taken near Cremona shows one of these camps: we can see two Balilla sentinels. There was also camps for the better Balilla, the "Campi Dux". Our Italian reader writes, "During the Fascist era were the party organizations that organized summer camps: the "Balilla" (younger) and the "Avanguardisti" (older) for the boys and the "Figlie della Lupa" (younger) and the "Giovani Italiane" (older) for the girls. The Italian term for summer camp is "campo estivo". A major figure in running the summer camps was a man named Parini. He promoted the idea of autarchy--self sufficiency. Products consumed at Alpe del Cicerč (a camp for oversas Italians) were provided by overseas Italians. Italians in Brazil provided coffee and Italians in Argentina provided wheat and jam. [Baldoli, p. 76.] The situation in Fascist Italy was different than in NAZI Germany. The Hitler Youth operated the entire German youth camp system as well as hostels. We do not fully understand the system in Italy, but it seems more complicated. The Fascist Youth movement did operate a number of camps, but there were also camps operated by other groups such as trade unions and municipalities. Of course these other units were also controlled by the Fascist Party, but they were independent of the Fascist Youth Movement.

Balilla Camps

There were many Balilla summer camps. Our Italian reader writes, "During the Fascist era were the party organizations that organized many summer camps: the "Balilla" (younger) and the "Avanguardisti" (older) for the boys and the "Figlie della Lupa" (younger) and the "Giovani Italiane" (older) for the girls. The situation in Fascist Italy was different than in NAZI Germany. The Hitler Youth operated the entire German youth camp system as well as hostels. We do not fully understand the system in Italy, but it seems more complicated. The Fascist Youth movement did operate a number of camps, but there were also camps operated by other groups such as trade unions and municipalities. Of course these other units were also controlled by the Fascist Party, but they were independent of the Fascist Youth Movement. The Balilla set up many summer camps. Quite a number of sleep-away were located at seaside sites with beaches. For children that didn't go the summer camps, the Balilla organized village and town summer day camps--"campo solare" (sunshine camp). The philosophy of "campo solare" was to let the children play and drill in the sunshine and fresh air as more as possible, wearing less clothing as possible. It was the inspiration after the War for the "colonia estiva".

Location

The Balilla camps were located all over Italy. Some were located in seaside places, sometimes in the mountains, sometimes in the country near the towns.

Individual Camps

Special Camps

There was also camps for the better Balilla, the "Campi Dux". These might be called show camps as they had especially nice locations and facilities.

Terminology

The Italian term for summer camp is "campo estivo".

Activities

We don't have a lot of information about activities at the camps. The activities at the Balilla camps varied as to the type of camps. The 'campo solare' day camp program was mnore limited than the sleep awway camps. The children spent the day together in open air. Exposing the children to frsh air and sunshine seems to have been at the heart of the activuties orogram. We do not yet have any detailed information on the specific sctivities. The available photographs shows a lot of linining up snd military drill. This suggests that this was an important part of the proigram, but the Fascist photographers whio took the photographs may have thought that sduch displays mafde for good photographs and been less interested in fun sctivities which the cchildren presumably ebjoyed. Making large "M's" for Mussolini seems to have been popular as we see here (figure 1).

Parini

A major figure in running the summer camps was a man named Parini. He promoted the idea of autarchy--self sufficiency. Products consumed at Alpe del Cicerč (a camp for oversas Italians) were provided by overseas Italians. Italians in Brazil provided coffee and Italians in Argentina provided wheat and jam. [Baldoli, p. 76.]

Camp Uniforms

The children at the Balilla spent were involned in open air activities. The children, bioth boys abd girls, wore only light clothing, often going without shirts. The idea was to soak up as much sun as possible. There was none of the modern concvern with exposure to sunshine. Most had uniforms, but not their Balilla uniforms. This was different than at Hitler youth camps in Germany,where the children wore therir HJ uniforms. They usually wore white rompers or shorts and caps. There seems to have been uniforms adopted locally rather than nation-wide. The children may have worn their uniforms to the camps, but we can not conform this. The photographs we have found showing the children weaein the bare minimum, often going bsrefoot rarher than their Baklilla uniforms. This seems to have been decided by each camp as we have noticed differences from camp to camp.

Popularity

We are not sure just how popular the camps were with the children who attended.

Attendance

The Balilla camps were free, but we don't think that they were compulsory.

Sources

Baldoli, Claudia. Exporting Fascism: Italian Fascists and Britain's Italians in the 1930s