The ghosts we breathe: theatre against Italian eternal fascism

This article examines the persistence of what Umberto Eco defined as “Ur-Fascism” in contemporary Italy through the lens of experimental theatre, focusing on Romeo Castellucci’s Tragedia Endogonidia – Roma R#07 (2003). Against the backdrop of Italy’s incomplete reckoning with its fascist past, the article situates Castellucci’s Roman episode within the symbolic and material continuity of authoritarian power embedded in urban space, political ritual, and cultural memory. Fascism is approached not as a closed historical period but as an affective and aesthetic infrastructure capable of reactivation under democratic appearances. Through close analysis of scenography, gesture, iconography, and dramaturgical dispositifs, the article argues that Roma R#07 stages fascism as a spectral presence that contaminates bodies, spaces, and perception, refusing catharsis or historical closure. The performance is read alongside Italy’s postwar political trajectory, the normalization of post-fascist forces, and recent attacks on cultural institutions under the Meloni government. By connecting theatre, architecture, and political memory, the article positions Castellucci’s work as a prefigurative intervention that anticipates the contemporary resurgence of authoritarian imaginaries and affirms theatre as a site of resistance, collective presence, and critical imagination in times of democratic erosion.