Signs of Americanization in Italian Domestic Life: Italy’s Postwar Conversion to Consumerism

Americanization is usually considered the major factor in Italy’s social and economic transformation after the second world war, so much so that the influence of the USA has long been taken for granted. However, this assumption is based upon a misleading account of the relationship between the two countries. A multifaceted process characterized by contradictory meanings, Americanization took various forms and developed in different ways. Indeed, it is difficult to estimate the extent to which American models were adopted: closer analysis reveals that such influences were subject to repeated misinterpretation, negotiation and even resistance. Initially reluctant to follow American examples, Italian society soon demonstrated an unusual capacity for remaking and hybridizing imported transatlantic models. Nowhere was this more evident than in the domestic sphere which served as a central target of the broader cultural campaign to start afresh after 1945.