Figure 1.--This photograph was taken in a Balilla summer camp located in Cremona. The photograoph was taken in 1941, the year after Italy entered World war II.

There were many Balilla summer camps. Our Italian reader writes, "During the Fascist era were the party organizations that organized many summer camps: the "Balilla" (younger) and the "Avanguardisti" (older) for the boys and the "Figlie della Lupa" (younger) and the "Giovani Italiane" (older) for the girls. The situation in Fascist Italy was different than in NAZI Germany. The Hitler Youth operated the entire German youth camp system as well as hostels. We do not fully understand the system in Italy, but it seems more complicated. The Fascist Youth movement did operate a number of camps, but there were also camps operated by other groups such as trade unions and municipalities. Of course these other units were also controlled by the Fascist Party, but they were independent of the Fascist Youth Movement. The Balilla set up many summer camps. Quite a number of sleep-away were located at seaside sites with beaches. For children that didn't go the summer camps, the Balilla organized village and town summer day camps--"campo solare" (sunshine camp). The philosophy of "campo solare" was to let the children play and drill in the sunshine and fresh air as more as possible, wearing less clothing as possible. It was the inspiration after the War for the "colonia estiva".