Naples: "80 years after the Four Days", at the monumental Cloister of the S. Maria La Nova Complex, the exhibition that tells the story of Naples and Campania in Italian-German relations between 1936-1943.

The photographic-documentary exhibition opens to the public “80 years after the Four Days. Views on Naples and Campania in Italian-German relations from the Axis alliance to the Nazi occupation of Italy (1936-1943)” which will remain open to visitors for 2 months at the monumental Cloister of the S. Maria La Nova Complex (Largo S. Maria La Nova 43 | Monday-Friday 9.00-19.00).

The exhibition project, which traces the relations between Italy and Germany starting from the Italian-German alliance of the Rome-Berlin Axis up to the Nazi occupation of Italy with a privileged look at the events in Naples and Campania, arrives at the Complex of Santa Maria La Nova thanks to the support of the Municipality of Naples and the Metropolitan City of Naples.

The exhibition, financed by “Fund for the Future” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany and curated by the Department of Humanistic Studies of the Federico II University of Naples in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut of Naples and the German Historical Institute of Rome, will be presented in a new installation, after the success of the first stage at the Chiostro dei Marmi of the State Archives of Naples.

“After celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Four Days of Naples with a program of over 50 initiatives between ceremonies, musical and theatrical performances, conferences and activities for schools, thanks to the inter-institutional collaboration which represents a distinctive feature of the cultural policies undertaken by the municipal administration, we return to reflect on one of the darkest periods of our history, from which that indelible proof of civil resistance and democracy that led to the liberation of the city from the Nazi-fascist yoke" declares Sergio Locoratolo, coordinator of cultural policies of the Municipality of Naples.

Through photographic images and often unpublished documents, coming from Italian and foreign public and private archives, it will be possible to retrace the most significant stages of the relationship between Italy and Germany starting from 1936: the visits of Hitler and the Nazi hierarchs to Naples, the presence of the German soldiers in the city and their relationship with the population, the dramatic change of perspective on 8 September 1943, with the period of serious violence by the Nazi occupiers which led to the popular uprising of the Four Days of Naples.

The exhibition project was conceived by Andrea D'Onofrio (coordinator of the Course of Studies in History of the University of Naples Federico II), Lutz Klinkhammer (deputy director of the German Historical Institute of Rome) and Maria Carmen Morese (director of the Goethe-Institut of Naples) who, with Candida Carrino, Paolo Fonzi, Carlo Gentile, Gabriella Gribaudi and Fabio Romano, make up the scientific-organizational committee of the project.

Among the numerous archives involved in the documentary research: the Landwehr photographic archive and the photographic sources of the Bundesarchiv (the German Federal Archives), the Public Record Office (London), the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA, Washington), the 'Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA Maxwell, Alabama), the State Archives of Naples, the Parisio-Troncone Fund, the Campania Institute for the History of Resistance, the Carbone Archive and the Luce Institute.