The 1970s Beyond the Years of Lead: Mediating Generational Identity in Città sommersa

Drawing on theories of the nexus between cultural memory and activism (Rigney 2018; 2020; 2021) and the concepts of «post-memory» (Hirsch 2012) and «generationality» (Erll 2014), this article aims to demonstrate that Marta Barone’s Città sommersa (2020) – through the biography of her father Leonardo – rewrites the history of the city of Turin by mediating an alternative narrative of the 1970s from the now widespread «plurimedial constellation» (Erll 2008) of memories of the so-called “anni di piombo” (“years of lead”). Since Leonardo’s story is told by his daughter, the article focuses on the extent to which the generational dimension affects the memory mediated by the novel. Finally, the article argues that Barone’s novel can be read as a metatextual reflection on memory construction. In fact, it is the narrative itself that shapes the memory of the 1970s and, in so doing, transforms Leonardo’s non-violent commitment against injustice into a mobilizing force for the present.