Studia Litterarum Studia Litterarum 2500-4247 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2023-8-1-162-177 Research Article Articles The Soviet Myth of Sibilla Aleramo Golubtsova Anastasia V. red@studlit.ru March 25, 2023 2023 October 05, 2022 The article studies the works by Italian communist author Sibilla Aleramo (1876– 1960), written after her visit to the Soviet Union in 1952, namely an essay “Return from Moscow” published in the communist newspaper “Unità” on September 25, 1952, a poem “Russia alto paese” and a speech on her travel impressions, published in 1953. The analysis of the texts focuses on the functioning of the key elements of “Russian” and “Soviet” myth, which largely determined the image of the USSR in the eyes of Western societies in the early 1950s. The author pays special attention to religious motifs regarded through the prism of Paul Hollander’s concept of “political pilgrimage.” The article analyzes the historical context of the mentioned works, their place among other Italian travelogues on the Soviet Union written in the same time period, as well as the specific traits of Aleramo’s texts distinguishing them from travel prose of her contemporaries and forerunners (Italian authors, who visited the USSR in 1920s and 1930s). It also examines the image of the Soviet Russia created by Aleramo in the paradigm of the Russian and Soviet myth. Sibilla Aleramo the USSR of the 1950s Soviet-Italian cultural relations travelogue Russian myth Soviet myth Paul Hollander political pilgrimage Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 1. 1 Golubtsova, A.V. “Bol’shevizm i religiia v ital’ianskikh travelogakh o Sovetskoi Rossii 1920–1930-kh godov” [“Bolshevism and Religion in Italian Travelogues about Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s”]. Quaestio Rossica, no. 9 (1), 2021, pp. 361–378. (In Russ.) 2. 2 Golubtsova, A.V. “‛Russkii’ i ‛sovetskii’ mif v ital’ianskikh travelogakh ob SSSR nachala 1950-kh godov” [“‛Russian’ Myth and ‛Soviet Myth’ in Italian Travelogues about the USSR of the Early 1950s”]. Literaturnye miry Vostoka i Zapada [Literary Worlds of the East and the West]. Moscow, Mozartika Publ., 2021, pp. 67–79. (In Russ.) 3. 3 Dubrovina, O.V. Formirovanie predstavlenii o Sovetskoi Rossii / SSSR v fashistskoi Italii 1922–1943 gg. [The Formation of the Image of Soviet Russia / the USSR in Fascist Italy of 1922–1943: PhD Dissertation]. Moscow, 2017. 305 p. (In Russ.) 4. 4 Devid-Foks, Maikl. Vitriny velikogo eksperimenta: kul’turnaia diplomatiia Sovetskogo Soiuza i ego zapadnye gosti. 1921–1941 gody [Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union. 1921–1941]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2015. 568 p. (In Russ.) 5. 5 Orlov, I.B., and A.D. Popov. Skvoz’ “zheleznyi zanaves.” See USSR!: inostrannye turisty i prizrak potemkinskikh dereven’ [Through the Iron Curtain: See USSR!: Foreign Tourists and the Phantom of Potemkin Villages]. Moscow, Higher School of Economics Publ., 2018. 488 p. (In Russ.) 6. 6 Khollander, Pol. Politicheskie piligrimy (puteshestviia zapadnykh intellektualov po Sovetskomu Soiuzu, Kitaiu i Kube 1928–1978) [Political Pilgrims: Travels of Western Intellectuals to the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba 1928–1979]. St. Petersburg, Lan’ Publ., 2001. 590 p. (In Russ.) 7. 7 Cerrai, Sondra. I partigiani della pace in Italia. Limena, Libreriauniversitaria.it, 2011. 303 p. (In Italian) 8. 8 Chianese, Francesco. “Pasolini tra URSS e USA: L’intellettuale italiano negli anni della Guerra Fredda.” Between, vol. 10, 2015. Available at: http://www.Between-journal.it/ (Accessed 04 October 2022). (In Italian) 9. 9 Gravina, Giovanni. “Per una storia dell’associazione Italia-URSS.” Slavia. Rivista trimestrale di cultura, no. 3, 1993, pp. 70–108. (In Italian) 10. 10 Manetti, Beatrice. “Scrittrici oltrecortina. I reportage dall’Unione Sovietica di Sibilla Aleramo, Renata Viganò e Anna Maria Ortese.” Comunicare Letteratura, no. 1, 2008, pp. 175–198. (In Italian) 11. 11 Tamborra, Angelo. Esuli russi in Italia dal 1905 al 1917. Bari, Laterza, 1977. 271 p. (In Italian)