1861 - 1971 - 2011. Dates. Firm props shoring up official rhetoric to formulate and reformulate the interpretation of history. The Unification of Italy and its celebrations, 1861, come to us in this difficult 2011 with a rhetoric that crashes against the irresolutions of Italian history. Playing with the banality of a history made of dates, between these two celebratory dates we slip 1971 – the revolt in Reggio Calabria. The obscure past comes back with its disturbing shadows to upset the rhetorical order with which a crisis ridden present ought to be governed.