It is well known that the Futurists exalted speed and danger, worshipping both as god-like forces with the ability to renew the world. As a source of speed and thrill, the car was an important symbol of Futurism, one who’s symbolic impact continues to exert its influence on society and culture. It was not until the post-war period that the car began to take its place in popular culture as an icon and obsession, as the Futurists had sought to make it. The conditions of the "Boom economico" made it possible for the car to permeate the collective consciousness. In the postwar Boom years, many of the same socio-political forces that had been in play before the wars returned in full force, demanding continued negotiation. Through Il sorpasso, Dino Risi’s 1962 film, and Emilio Isgrò’s 1964 Poesia Volkswagen, I will examine the ways in which the Futurist ideology of the macchina as savior is carried through in two prominent cultural manifestations. This will also shed light on the continuing influence of Futurist ideology just when it is being most vehemently denied for its Fascist connections. I will also consider technical aspects of Futurist poetry and the Futurist artistic agenda as further support for the continued influence of Futurist ideology. This will include an examination of the use of parolibere conventions in Isgrò’s poem as well as the thematic similarities between Il sorpasso and the Fondazione e manifesto del Futurismo. Among these similarities are the obsession with speed and danger and the portrayal of the car as a lover. In Isgrò’s poem, the visual composition on the page and the figurative elements are just as critical to a complete understanding of the poem as what the text says.

At the hundredth anniversary of Italy’s 1911 invasion of Libya, as the effects of European imperialism continue to reverberate in Africa, it seems an especially appropriate time to reconsider the texts that helped shape the discourse of the time and to reflect on the continuing effects that they exert. It is in this context that I present an annotated translation of Giovanni Pascoli’s oration “La grande proletaria si è mossa.”

Futurism and religion are not often associated and the problematic topic of the Arte sacra futurista has been mostly dismissed as an aberration and/or seen as a sign of the movement’s embrace of fascism, ultimately leading to the movements’ decline. Fillia (pseudonym of Luigi Colombo) was one of the futurist artists who produced paintings on religious themes. This article argues that Fillia used futurist sacred art not in support of Benito Mussolini and fascism, but instead as a means of symbolic protest "from within” the regime. Fillia’s religious paintings are idiosyncratic, complex, and ultimately much more than the traditional religious images they seem to be. Through a close reading of Fillia’s religious paintings from 1931-1933, analyzed in the context of his written works from 1923-1933, the article demonstrates how his iconography and compositional style question and challenge aspects of fascism, and its attempts to establish itself as a lay religion of the state.