Are national heritages becoming deviant narratives?

Le eredità nazionali possono diventare narrazioni distorte?

Abstract

Through its cultural actions, the European Union is attempting to introduce into the public space a supra/transnational approach to collective memories with the aim of reinforcing the feeling of European belonging. Thus, the European Union is trying to justify its existence by identifying a set of cultural representations, enabling Europeans’ recognition as members of the same group. However, this attempt challenges the authority of the existing national memories as references used by Europeans to understand their collective existence. Are European and national narratives complementary? Can they both coexist in the public space or does a European approach to heritage result in the retreat of national memories?