One of the world’s great cities bears the signature of a Fascist dictator, and while nobody wants to talk about it (or in the case of most Romans, cares about it), his presence is still everywhere in Rome.

Here I look at the rise of Mussolini, the creation and construction of his most visible legacy, the Via Imperiali, then try and point out a few of his reminders scattered about Rome.

The rise of Benito Mussolini

 

In 1861, after years of unrest between individual city states, Italy finally became a unified country. However, this new cobblestone nation was without identity and in political shambles until Fascist leader Benito Mussolini came to power. As Prime Minister from 1922-1943, Mussolini united Italy, more specifically Rome, into the image that the world sees today. Connecting the new Rome with its glorious past, Mussolini took advantage of his vehement charisma and power over propaganda to breed his Fascist ideals into the heart of Italy through his public projects.

 

Born on July 29, 1883 into a humble family from Predappio, no one expected Mussolini to be a figure to change the history of the nation. Although receiving good grades in school, he developed a defiant and boisterous nature which followed him even when he became certified as a schoolteacher. Mussolini initially embraced his socialist background of his father, Alessandro Mussolini a blacksmith and socialist activist. In 1902, unable to find a job, he moved to Switzerland to find employment and expand his political horizons. Unsuccessful, he moved back to Italy and became a political journalist as well as volunteering for military service. After joining the war effort in 1915, he came to the stark realisation that socialism caused more problems than it solved and founded his own paper Il Popolo d’Italia. Similarly, many Italians saw the fallacies of socialism as the cause of all the post war problems, setting the stage for Mussolini’s rise to power.

 

During the years after WWI, Russia’s Bolshevik revolution initially boosted Italy’s socialist party; however the populace had a waning confidence in a revolution which led to the party’s disintegration. Following the war, Italy experienced an economic backlash that saw an increase in unemployment and inflation lowering further the confidence in the socialist part. This was not helped by property distribution issues as veterans came back demanding their land. Seeing the weakness and disorganisation of the liberal government set up after WWI, militant socialists took it into their own hands and used a series of worker insurrections to gain power. This social uproar through labor militancy and the occupation of factories by the Red Guards did not sway the socialist party leaders to escalate the revolution onto a Bolshevik scale. Rather, it was the continued economic disintegration which caused socialism to lose support; Italy was left with a desperate need for leadership. Fascism emerged as way out of a Bolshevik-like revolution in Italy. By 1922, the economic recession united much of the population by blaming socialism for the nation’s problems. The 'squadristi', or blackshirts, recognised Mussolini's political initiative and backed him as the leader of the Partito Nazionale Fascista. They were hard to control because of their radical nature, making them a threatening force to Mussolini’s authority. With their support, Mussolini quickly climbed to the top, promoting the fascist party in the elections, and by any means, working to eliminate any competition. Not all Fascist support was voluntary. Through intimidation and violence, the blackshirts gained territorial support and were even sponsored by landowners, businessmen and the police, who were often targeted by socialists.

 

On October 28, 1922, the fascist party staged a coup and experienced its greatest victory. Threatening civil war, an army of 30,000 'squadristi' marched from Milan to Rome through “the path of ancient greatness” to take the country’s capital. However, this group (that may not have even marched) was less than intimidating because most were poorly armed. Regardless of the number of men, King Victor Emmanuel conceded to avoid bloodshed and asked Mussolini to form a government. Mussolini became Italy’s youngest prime minister at the age of 39 and held office for 21 years. As an act of glorification of Rome and himself, Mussolini later described this event as a march of 300,000 men, led personally by him on horseback. This exaggeration serves as a testament to his charisma which is seen as a major theme throughout his political career in his speeches, commissioned artwork, and especially his personality. He quickly gained the support of many nationalists; Mussolini declared himself 'Il duce' in 1926 and strategically imposed his own hyper-nationalism to create a new Italian identity.

 

Mussolini with his ideals and political ardor revived the city of Rome, creating a grand spectacle for the rest of the world. He desired to transform the decaying city by “destroying the old to create the new and uncover the glories of the imperial past”. With the start of several construction projects, historical Rome rose out of the ground and the slums were torn down. In addition, identifying his own dynasty with Emperor Augustus’, he stressed the idea of romanita and recycled Roman history for his own political purposes. His obsession with Augustus brought focus and grandeur to a troubled nation, which united the people with a sense of pride to the youth, a new generation of Italians. Mesmerized by the Duce’s oratorical skills, Italians were captivated by and gave way to the fascist idea of the revival of the Italian strength, youth and energy. Winning the public, Mussolini incorporated these fascist ideals into the reconstruction of Rome.

 

Tearing down the slums, liberating ancient monuments, and improving the city for the modern age, Mussolini effectively used social projects to proclaim the essential fascist messages. During the late 1920s, several public construction programs of rejuvenation were instigated that gave “older sites new fascist imprints”. The transformation began with excavation and demolition of the Imperial Fora. Although unveiling the key Roman Fora of Trajan, Augustus, Caesar and Nerva, parts of these were left buried by the creation of a thirty metre wide street, Via dell’Impero, connecting the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia, Mussolini’s headquarters. But more was unveiled than lost. The superimposition of the beautiful ruins and the modern use of this street embody the notion of 'romanita' as well as a surge into an energetic city center. On October 28, 1932, Rome celebrated the tenth anniversary of the March on Rome and the opening of Via dell’Impero. Running through the Imperial Forum, statues of the Roman emperors, and later, the four maps, this street became the site of many fascist celebrations and parades similar to the triumphal processions that took place in Roman times. Processions ended at the Piazza Venezia where Mussolini often gave speeches off the small balcony towards the roaring crowd. The glory of ancient Rome ordained the successes of Mussolini’s Rome, legitimising his governance, as these grand parades caught everyone’s attention. Just the completion of this massive project and archaeological feat empowered the fascist wave through Italy – however, the biggest propaganda piece was not added to the street until two years after the opening.

 

Posted on the side of the Basilica of Maxentius,  Mussolini unveiled four maps in April 1934, on the anniversary of the founding of Rome and Fascist Labour Day, to further the idea of Fascist self-definition through its portrayal of past and present imperialism.  Each map is about 4.6 square metres, held by two imperial eagles and made of different colored marbles to easily distinguish the sea, the Roman Empire, and the unconquered areas. The maps are arranged chronologically, depicting the 8th century BC, 146 BC, 14 AD, and 98-117 AD, so that when viewed together, one could understand the expansion of Rome throughout history. Shown in white marble, ancient Rome would move further to bring civilization and light into the peripheral lands shown by the black marble. These propagandistic maps affirmed the fascist regime in their own imperialist attitude and a fifth map, revealed on October 28, 1936, proudly displayed Mussolini’s grasp into Ethiopia. Adding to its use as a commemorative piece, the fifth map was dedicated to fascist martyrs. He did conquer Libya (1934), Ethiopia (1936) and Albania (1939) but the rest never happened. The 5th map was damaged after the war and disappeared for a while. It was rediscovered in the early 2000's and placed in storage ever since.

 

Mussolini continued to reconstruct Rome into a fascist center until WWII, extracting the grandeur of ancient Rome for his own agenda. Mussolini’s identification as the new Augustus, justified the need to canonize the ancient emperor. In celebration of Augustus’ 2000th birthday, the Piazza Augusto Imperatore was created with the restoration of the Ara Pacis and mausoleum. Followed by the construction of the Exhibit of Fascist Revolution and the EUR, Mussolini’s belief “that the glories of the past [should be] surpassed by the glories of the future” were stressed by the museum’s simple but bold architecture and the sports arena’s support for Italian strength and fitness. From the rejuvenation of the monuments of Augustus to the fascist architecture of the EUR, Mussolini’s public programs exhibited the solidarity and strength of his political party and reign.

 

Mussolini’s use of propaganda increased as Italy entered WWII on the side of the Axis. He continued his captivating speeches, uniting Italians. Although feverishly cheering at the sound of Mussolini’s voice projecting from the balcony of Piazza Venezia, many of the people could not hear his speech about joining the war effort. Furthermore, he held a grand celebration to welcome Adolf Hitler when he visited Rome and was showed around Via dell’Impero. Ironically, German troops marched down this very street when occupying Italy at the turn of the war.

 

Finally, Mussolini was overthrown in July 1943 when the Grand Council of Fascism withdrew confidence in him. When executed in 1945, many of the fascist symbols which represented his political projects and the idea of strength in numbers, were taken down from buildings and art around the city as well as the fifth map on the side of the Basilica of Maxentius. Likewise, many of the names of his public works were changed from their fascist façade as a symbol of removing fascism and restoring a greater Italian purpose. Via dell’Impero became Via dei Fori Imperiali and Foro Mussolini became Foro Italico. These anti-fascist sentiments unified Italy more than Mussolini was able to achieve with fascism. Though in some cases destructive, one can not ignore the amount of resources Mussolini poured into the transformation of Rome in order to create propaganda to legitimise his government and project him and the fascist revolution.

 

[REF: Genesis Han - UW Honors Program in Rome -  2008]