L’emarginazione della classe dirigente liberale. Il fascismo a Lecce nel carteggio Pellegrino-Starace (1923-1931)

In a historiographical overwiev that has been paying attention to the 'peripheries of Fascism' for some years now, one of the central themes of investigations is the question of the composition and re-composition at local level of the ruling groups in relation to the birth and development of fascism. On the basis of these reflections, the contribution proposes an interpretation of the relationship between the liberal notabilato and Fascism through private correspondence, with particular reference to the correspondence between Giuseppe Pellegrino (1856-1931), a leading exponent of the ruling class in Lecce, and the young hierarch Achille Starace (1889-1945). The dimension that is revealed by the correspondences, preserved in the personal archive of the Pellegrino family, shows through the features of an individual story the narrative of a more general phenomenon of conflicts, tensions, assimilation and exclusion.