Italian Forgers: The Art Market and the Weight of the Past in Modern Italy

Italian Forgers takes an unorthodox approach to the topic of art forgery, focusing not on art forgery per se, but on the major forgery scandals that impacted the Italian art market, a market that had to respond to constant and often intense demand for Italian objects. By focusing on the power dynamics that both precipitated forgery scandals and forged Italian cultural identities, this book connects the debates and discussions about three well-known Italian forgers—Giovanni Bastianini, Icilio Joni, and Alceo Dossena—to investigate the mechanics of the Italian art market from unification through the fascist era.

Carol Helstosky is a Professor of History at the University of Denver in Colorado, where she teaches courses in modern European cultural, political, and military history. She is the author of Italian Forgers: the Art Market and the Weight of the Past in Modern Italy (2024); Pizza: A Global History (2008); Food Culture in the Mediterranean (2009); and Garlic and Oil: Food and Politics in Modern Italy (2004). She is editor of The Routledge History of Food (2015) and has authored numerous articles and book chapters on the history of food and culture in modern Italy. She works with students documenting the lives and legacies of area veterans, contributing to the National Cemetery Administration’s Veterans Legacy Program and the Honors Burial Project of the Vietnam Veterans of America. She is currently working on a history of United States-Italian military relations during and after World War Two, examining the histories of American military cemeteries and the installation of U.S. military bases in Italy.