In the last decades a growing body of literature has revived the study of culture and its persistence in time, even when in a hostile environment. Despite the fact that globalization has made societies increasingly interconnected and interdependent, with an ever-increasing mixture of cultures within the same contextual conditions, the global village has yet to yield homogeneity: societies differ and differences are transmitted across generation, regardless of the homogenizing power of hegemonic cultures. Why do we not all melt into the pot? Focusing on a case study on Italy’s memory of the authoritarian past, I argue that local cultural transmission, driven by families and local communities jointly, is crucial in the transmission of minoritarian memories. I show that by providing evidence that local and family-level characteristics are important for the transmission of views that are minoritarian in the larger national society, and irrelevant for the transmission of majoritarian traits. I employ original survey data to measure individual remembrance on the authoritarian experience. Then, I combine municipality-level information and archival data with respondents' family history during the regime to provide empirical support to my theoretical argument. I show that family history, family socialization efforts, local history, local memory entrepreneurs and the availability of local networks of civic engagement are crucial for the successful transmission of minoritarian memories, and are not relevant for the transmission of majoritarian ones.