History in the City, a series of university lectures open to the public organised by the Regional Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Age in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Irsrec FVG) in partnership with UniTS Department of Political and Social Sciences, returns from Wednesday 22th October at the Museo civico Sartorio in Largo Papa Giovanni XXIII No 1, Trieste.

The lectures will continue until 17th December.

All meetings will be held from 18:00 to 19:00 in Sala Costantinides, as well as live Zoom https://shorturl.at/ECSXD

The Organising Committee is composed of Giulia Caccamo, Patrick Karlsen, Gabriele Mastrolillo and Raoul Pupo.

The first event on the programme will feature Patrick Karlsen (University of Trieste – Irsrec FVG) on the theme ‘Who betrayed Luigi Frausin? The lie of “Slavic Delation” in Cold War Trieste’.

The 2025 edition, entitled ‘A Story of Lies. Fake news in the contemporary age’, investigates the role of lies, disinformation and propaganda in contemporary history. 
The common thread between the various events is fake news as tools of power, control and collective manipulation. The topics covered during the conferences will range from the political and military events of the twentieth century to the most recent dynamics of communication that affect the phenomenon of climate denialism. The meetings will seek to demonstrate how fake news has always shaped public opinion, legitimising regimes, nurturing stereotypes and justifying political choices.

The exhibition, organised by Irsrec and UniTS since 2013, has always been a great success for the public. The aim of the initiative, since its inception, has been to transfer part of its teaching activity off campus and, together with other prestigious scientific institutions in the city, to organise open, accessible and rigorous debates on different themes of contemporary history. Meetings with historians who combine rigor and clarity, designed to share up-to-date knowledge, feed public discussion and bring research, school and community closer together.

Programme

22th October, Patrick Karlsen (University of Trieste – Irsrec FVG): Who betrayed Luigi Frausin? The Lie of ‘Slavic Delation’ in Cold War Trieste

30th October, Mirco Carrattieri (Liberation Route Italy): ‘The order has already been executed’. The Resistance and False News

5th November, Giuseppe Ieraci (University of Trieste): Trilussa's chicken. Data manipulation and interpretation in politics

13th November, Raoul Pupo (University of Trieste – Irsrec FVG): The ‘Crippled Victory’

19th November, Gustavo Corni (University of Trento): The Reichstag fire in Berlin, 1933. An unresolved political mystery?

26th November, Silvia Inaudi (University of Trieste – Irsrec FVG): Did Mussolini do good things? The social policies of fascism between propaganda and reality

3rd December, Tullia Catalan (University of Trieste): The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Their Contribution to the Spread of Antisemitism from the Twentieth Century to the Present

10th December, Antonella Salomoni (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna): Katyn’ – A State Lie

17th December, Giovanni Carrosio (University of Trieste): Climate denial: history, controversies and logic of a socio-political phenomenon

Teachers will be issued with a certificate of participation at the end of each meeting.

The Institute is recognised by the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit as an accredited training agency.[1]

[1] The Regional Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Age in Friuli Venezia Giulia is part of the network of institutes associated with the Ferruccio Parri National Institute (formerly Insmli). It has obtained recognition as an accredited training agency by the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit, by Ministerial Decree of 25 May 2001, ref. 802 of 19 June 2001, renewed by Decree No 10962 of 8 June 2005. Accreditation is carried out in accordance with Directive 170/2016 with approval of 1 December 2016 of request No 872 and is included in the list of accredited bodies.