Send in the clowns! Humour and power in Italian political, social and cultural life - Editorial

The Economist commented the outcome of the 2013 Italian general elections with a collage of Grillo and Berlusconi on its front cover, accompanied by the title ‘Send in the clowns’. The British weekly magazine grasped a peculiar feature of Italian politics, i.e. the use of "commedia" and humour as epitomized by Berlusconi's jokes and the figure of Beppe Grillo, a comedian and founder of the Movimento 5 Stelle (in 2013 the first Italian party). This special issue investigates the relation between humour and power in Italian politics and culture from cinema to television, from politics to theatre