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This Happened

This Happened—December 17: Australian Prime Minister Goes Missing, Forever

On December 17th, 1976, Australian prime minister Harold Holt went for a swim with friends and never returned.

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How did Harold Holt go missing?

The Prime Minister of Australia from 1966-1967, Holt was an avid outdoorsman and loved to swim in the ocean near to where he lived Portsea, Victoria. On the morning of December 17, Holt woke up in Portsea, called his wife, and went to the store. That afternoon, he suggested to friends that they all go for a swim in a particularly unsafe part of the beach. His friends stayed close to the shore, but he went deeper and was pulled out to sea.

Was Harold Holt murdered?

Although a massive search party was conducted, his body was never found and he is presumed to have died. Conspiracy stories have since erupted, saying he had committed suicide, or was a spy for the People’s Republic of China.

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food / travel

Pasta v. Fascists: How Italy's Staple Dish Became A Symbol Of Resistance

Pasta may not be considered controversial today, but it played an important role during Italy's fascist years, particularly in one family's celebration of community and liberation.

Photo of the Cervi family.

Photo of the Cervi family, whose seven children were shot by the Fascists on December 28, 1943, at the Reggio Emilia shooting range.

@comunisti_alla_ribalta via Instagram
Jacopo Fontaneto

ROME — Eighty years ago — on July 25, 1943 — the vote of no confidence by the Grand Council of Fascism, leading to Benito Mussolini's arrest, set off widespread celebrations. In Campegine, a small village in the Emilian province, the Cervi family celebrated in their own way: they brought 380 kilograms of pasta in milk cans to the town square and offered it to all the inhabitants of the village.

The pasta was strictly plain: macaroni dressed with butter and cheese, seen as more of a "festive dish" in that period of deprivation. As soon as the Cervi brothers learned about the arrest of Mussolini, they procured flour, borrowed butter and cheese from the dairy, and prepared kilos and kilos of pasta. They then loaded it onto a cart to distribute it to their fellow villagers. Pastasciutta (dry pasta) specifically regards dishes with noodles that are plated "dry", not in broth. That would disqualify soup, risotto, ravioli...

Even though pastasciutta is the most stereotypical type of pasta today, it had a complicated relationship with the government during Italy's fascist years.

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