Identity and culture in didactic choices made by mathematics teachers of the Trieste Section of “Mathesis” from 1918 to 1923

This study focuses on the work of the “Mathesis” Society, Section of Trieste (Italy), in the period of transition, in the region Venezia Giulia (now belonging to Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia), from the school regulations of the Habsburg Empire to the ones of the Kingdomof Italy (1918-1923). Before 1918, in the two countries the differences in math teaching methods and conceptions concerning education and curricula were considerable. The research, supported by documents of the Trieste Section of “Mathesis” hitherto not yetexplored, shows that, in spite of their strong Italian feelings, the mathematics teachers of the Italian language secondary schools in Trieste, trained at the Austrian universities on the teaching methods proposed by Felix Klein, did not accept passively the changes enforced on school curricula, until the Gentile Reform (carried out by the first Fascist government) obliged them to.