L’aratro e il martello. Storie di gappismi nelle terre di mezzo

This research aims to study the Gruppi di azione patriottica within the Italian Resistance, turning the focus toward the "peripheries." It explores how the directives of the Italian Communist Party were implemented in smaller towns, whether and how they differed from what has already been studied regarding the major cities of the industrialized Center-North in terms of action, organization, and guerrilla practices. The analysis focuses on two case studies, the Pesaro-Urbino area and the lower Veneto-Friuli plain to demonstrate how the definition of gappismo can extend beyond urban and working-class contexts, shaping itself around the traditions of struggle as well as the physical, social, and political geographies of the specific territories where the GAP were called to operate. The study highlights that the habitats in which these squads operated did not serve as a simple background for local guerrilla warfare, rather, they became a fundamental element upon which gappismo built its strategies to survive and adapt beyond the spring-summer phase of 1944, also by expanding its practices. Throughout the discussion, the study reflects on the historical definition of gappismo as a whole, considering the usefulness of declining it in the plural, its specific characteristics, and its relationship with the use of the terrorist weapon. In doing so, it engages with existing historiography and reflects on the very portrayal of the gappista that has been passed down over the years.