The Clandestine Circulation in Fascist Italy of an Italian American Antifascist Newspaper: The Case of “Il Nuovo Mondo”

The present article examines the clandestine circulation in Italy of Il Nuovo Mondo (1925–1931) to reconstruct the transnational political networks that developed around an Italian American antifascist newspaper. The article analyzes how its editors, contributors, readers, and supporters connected Italian immigrant communities in the United States to their homeland. Drawing primarily on a substantial corpus of reports held in the Central Archives of the Italian State, the article examines a transatlantic antifascist network that was both geographically extensive and politically dynamic. By reconstructing documented seizures across fascist Italy, the study provides the first systematic mapping of the newspaper’s clandestine circulation and identifies the material practices through which political communication moved across the Atlantic. The article is divided into two main sections. The first provides a historical and political overview of the newspaper, with particular attention to the countermeasures undertaken by Italian authorities. The second section offers a comprehensive mapping of documented seizures and circulation routes in fascist Italy. The study also examines individual senders, recipients, correspondence, and financial exchanges, demonstrating how the newspaper functioned as a node in a transnational antifascist network between 1925 and 1931.