Valditara: ‘Laterza’s history textbook indoctrinates pupils; it must be withdrawn’

Minister Valditara has come down hard on a history book, published by Laterza, which criticised the Meloni government, accusing the administration of having a fascist foundation and pursuing policies that curtail civil liberties. According to the Minister for Education and Merit, the book *Trame del tempo3* “contains statements that are entirely manipulative and unreliable”. Hence the call for it to be withdrawn.

“I believe it is in the publisher’s own interest, in order to safeguard the scientific reputation of its publishing house, to withdraw a text – explained the head of the Mim, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with pupils from the Goffredo Mameli secondary school in Milan – which, from a scientific point of view, is entirely inadequate and risks being used to indoctrinate pupils’.

According to Valditara, ‘portraying this government as one that deports migrants by singling them out, or as a fascist government or whatever else, does nobody any good’.

One passage in the text – which is on sale on platforms selling books for secondary schools – refers to the Meloni government as an administration that ‘stands out for its implementation of measures that are clearly repressive’. The paragraph in question also states that the current government ‘came to power for the first time a century after the March on Rome and seventy-seven years after the Liberation from fascism’ and that it is ‘the party that has taken up its legacy and continues to maintain close ties with its avowedly fascist “base”’.

The publisher’s response was not long in coming: ‘I do not know why this story is being brought up again now, after it was discussed at length in the summer of 2025. Perhaps they were expecting us to withdraw it or to practise some form of self-censorship. The issue is not the book, nor is it a particular page in the book, but a matter of principle, namely: can the relevant minister intervene to request that a textbook be amended or not adopted? My answer is no, regardless of this or that book or this or that content,’ said Alessandro Laterza, CEO of Laterza and head of the publishing house’s educational division.