In the fiery political debates in and about Italy, silence reigns about the country's colonial legacy. Reducing European colonial history to Britain and France has effectively concealed an enduring phenomenon in Italian history that lasted for 80 years (1882 to 1960). It also blots out the history of the countries it colonized in Northeastern Africa.

Francesco Filippi challenges the myth of Italians being "nice people" or "good" colonialists who simply built roads for Africans. Despite extensive historiography, the collective awareness of the nations conquered and the violence inflicted on them remains superficial, be it in Italy or internationally. He retraces Italy's colonial history, focusing on how propaganda, literature and popular culture have warped our understanding of the past and thereby hampered our ability to deal with the present

Filippi's unique approach in which he deftly pits historical facts against popular myths provides a model that could be adapted to countries everywhere.

Francesco Filippi's profile page

Domenic Cusmano's profile page

Robin Philpot's profile page

Francesco Filippi is a historian of mentalities and an educator who has specialized in the relationship between memory and the present. He is co-founder of Deina, an association that organises trips of memory and training courses all over Italy. Filippi is the author of five books including the Italian bestseller Mussolini Also Did A Lot of Good Things (Baraka Books 2021). He lives in Trento, Italy.

Domenic Cusmano is a Montreal communications professional, photojournalist, and translator whose previous translations include books from Italian and French into English. Publisher and editor of Accenti Magazine, he holds degrees from the Université de Montréal and McGill University. His work as a photojournalist has taken him throughout Europe, Africa and South America.

Robin Philpot is publisher of Baraka Books and author of seven books in French and English including Rwanda and the New Scramble for Africa. He lives in Montreal.

"But We Built Roads for Them is an extraordinary book about imperial ambitions gone astray. The author rightly admits that Italy was far less the exploitative empire in comparison to Britain and France. Nevertheless, a critical look at the past is most instructive for a better future, according to the author? excellent" Truby Chiavello, Primo Magazine, Washington DC

"masterful, yet accessible history (?) (Filippi's) prose scintillates in clarity and wit (?) I thank Filippi for his unflinchingly courageous exposé; I applaud Cusmano for his luminous rendering of Filippi's incendiary truth-telling. Next? Oppose War! Share the Wealth!" George Elliott Clarke

"Francesco Filippi returns to confront the history of mentality. . . . And he does it with his usual style, both well documented and ironic, relying on a large amount of research re-interpreted in the light of some brilliant personal insights." Eric Gobetti, L'indcie dei libri del mese

"Filippi brilliantly points out that the roots of a false consciousness grow out of a widespread stereotype of the Italians as 'good people.' . . . his book warns us against the 'prejudice' that results from believing we know when we don't know?" Giovanni de Luna, La Stampa (Tutti Libri)

About Mussolini Also Did A Lot of Good

"We are indebted to Mr. Filippi for his skilled passion in establishing a proper analysis for those who seek to counter the supporters of Mussolini's tyrannical reign." Truby Chiaviello, Primo Magazine, Washington DC

"chapter by chapter, point by point, Filippi dislodges propaganda with fact, answers mirage with astringent sunlight, and dispels nostalgia with body-counts." George Elliott Clarke

"an antidote to all the nonsense still circulating about fascism?. Filippi is almost surgical in the way he reestablishes the context." La Repubblica Book of the Month

"In the existing climate, Francesco Filippi's scalpel is of utmost importance." Le Monde

"Francesco Filippi's book is very timely and relevant — a lesson on a past that simply doesn?t go away." Corriere Della Sera