Special Collections
Fabio Cusin
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
1.1 Library
Biblioteca Umanistica Università di Urbino
1.2 Collection name
Fabio Cusin
1.3 Biographical notes
Fabio Cusin was born in Trieste on August 3, 1904, to Cesare, a currency exchange broker of Jewish descent, and Mariana Girardelli, of Trentino origins. After attending elementary school in German language, in 1914 he enrolled at the School for Economic and Commercial Sciences and then he graduated in Political Economy from the University of Florence in 1925 with a thesis on international commercial law.
During his years in Florence, he took an interest in history, particularly regarding Trieste and the Venezia Giulia region. In 1930, he published Appunti alla storia di Trieste, a provocative work that tried to reshape the historical interpretation of Trieste, challenging the liberal-national historiographical tradition. Due to his views, which strongly opposed the Fascist ideology, Cusin faced great difficulties in entering the academic and intellectual world. Nevertheless, he continued to publish historical essays. Between 1932 and 1938, he focused on 18th-century Trieste, breaking away from patriotic-nationalist historiography. In 1937, he published the two-volume work Il Confine orientale d'Italia nella politica europea del XIV e XV secolo.
In his works, Cusin tried to highlight Trieste’s autonomist tradition, advocating a multicultural and multiethnic perspective of its history. During the late Fascist period, he developed an increasingly oppositional stance against the centralist tradition of post-Risorgimento Italian politics, aligning himself with democratic and federalist positions. After 1945, following a brief affiliation with the Action Party, he completely rejected irredentism and embraced explicit independence-oriented views. As an editor of Il Corriere di Trieste, he vigorously defended the Free Territory of Trieste project, seeing an independent and democratic Trieste as a resolution to the city’s historical ambiguity and a crucial step toward an inclusive policy for Slavic populations. and an economic revival.
In 1950, he became a professor of history at the University of Urbino, continuing his career as a historian, journalist, and political activist. In 1948, he published his most famous book, the polemical Antistoria d'Italia, where he analyzed Italy’s centralism and political and democratic shortcomings, in a manner similar to Giuseppe Prezzolini. His later works, particularly the controversial L'Italia unita 1860-1876 (1952), sparked harsh criticism among Italian historians.
Nel 1952 viene eletto consigliere comunale per la lista indipendentista Blocco Triestino, incarico che svolge fino alla morte avvenuta nel 1955.
In 1952, he was elected as a municipal councilor for the independentist Blocco Triestino party, a position he held until his death in 1955.
1.4 Date and methods of acquisition
The Cusin Collection was donated by the heirs of the Cusin family in the 1990s.
1.5 Collection history
From the materials donated by the Cusin family, approximately 200 items were found in the storage facility of Palazzo Bonaventura. Among thesea around 40 volumes were damaged and unrecoverable; about 37 novels were of "low" literary quality, consisting of classic works of Italian and European fiction; around 32 were academic offprints. Approximately 80 volumes were processed, catalogued, and incorporated into the library’s collections. These books primarily cover topics related to contemporary history, particularly the conditions of the Venetian and Friulian populations in relation to their lives along the Italian-Slovenian border. The publications date from 1920 to 1950.
1.6 Collection increase
No further material is expected to be added to the collection.
1.7 Collection indexing
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1.8 Collection accessibility
The OPAC catalogue is accessible online at:
https://sbaopac.uniurb.it/SebinaOpac/query/f.cusin?context=catalogo;
and on open shelves: it is available and it has been fully inventoried and catalogued.
2. DESCRIPTION
2.1 Extent
The monographs preserved and catalogued within Settore Bibliotecario di Ateneo amount to approximately 80 items.
2.2 Description identifier, organization, and placement
The collection has been classified under F.Cusin, with a single section named FC.01. The bibliographic units have been arranged in sequential order.
2.3 Stato di conservazione
Buono
3. BIBLIOGRAFIA E DOCUMENTAZIONE
3.1 Bibliografia e documentazione
Cervani, Giulio. La storia d'Italia ed il concetto del confine orientale nel pensiero di Fabio Cusin, Trieste, Lint, 1977.
Cervani, Giulio. Gli "Appunti alla storia di Trieste" di Fabio Cusin ed il problema storico del particolarismo triestino, Udine, Del Bianco, 1983.
Cervani, Giulio (a cura di). Gli scritti politici di Fabio Cusin nel Corriere di Trieste, Udine, Del Bianco, 1994.
Molinelli, Raffaele. Rileggendo "L'antistoria d'Italia" di Fabio Cusin. Estr. da: Studi urbinati di storia, filosofia e letteratura. Urbino, Argalia, 1975.
Santarelli, Enzo, Fabio Cusin. Estr. da: Belfagor, fasc 1 (31 gennaio 1993). Firenze, OLschki, 1993.
Spini, Giorgio. Fabio Cusin, Urbino, Università degli studi, 1956.
F. Cusin: Il nuovo stato unitario: burocratico e centralizzatore (da Antistoria d'Italia), su polyarchy.org.
F. Cusin: La sinistra al potere (da Antistoria d'Italia), su polyarchy.org.
Cusin, i pregi di un caratteraccio articolo di Geminello Alvi, Corriere della Sera, 18 marzo 2001, p. 29, Archivio storico. URL visitati il 07/11/2024
4. NOTES
4.1 Special notes and reports
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PERMALINK TO THE CATALOGUE
COMPLIER'S NAME
Francesca Palmieri