​Surviving Signs of the
Fascist Era in Rome

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Viaduct of the Vatican State Railway Line

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Evidence of a dark and inglorious period in the history of Italy can be seen on buildings and monuments throughout Rome!

Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943, a period known as the ventennio facsista or simply the ventennio (Italian for a period of twenty years). The symbol of the Fascist Party (and the origin of its name) was the fasces lictoriae, an emblem of authority in the world of ancient Rome.

Lictor (1st century CE), Vatican Museums

​In ancient Rome, the fasces was a bundle of elm rods and an axe, bound together with strips of leather. It was carried by the lictors, officials who attended magistrates wherever they went. Lictors preceded a magistrate in an ordered line, with the primus lictor (the principal lictor) directly in front of him. The number of lictors varied according to the rank of the magistrate. The fasces, which were about 1.5 metres long, were held in a lictor's left hand and rested on his left shoulder.  

Fast forward to late 19th century Italy and the name fasces had come to be used by a number of political groups of varying political persuasions. In 1919, Benito Mussolini founded the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which, in 1921, became the Partito Nazionale Fascista (National Fascist Party).

​A year later, on October 28th, Mussolini organised the 'March on Rome', after which King Vittorio Emanuele III invited him to form a government. The Era Fascista was born and the image of the fasces lictoriae was resurrected. The symbolism of the fasces suggested strength through unity: a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is difficult to break. 

After Mussolini's fall from power on July 25th 1943, most images of the fasces were erased (fully or partially), in an attempt to wipe out the memory of more than twenty years of Fascist rule. 

Theatre of Marcellus

However, many images have survived. A well-preserved example can be seen, high up and relatively out of reach, on the Teatro di Marcello (Theatre of Marcellus). The inscription at the bottom, 'A VII E F', indicates that it was erected in the seventh year (Anno) of the Era Fascista. 

Fasces on the Wall of a High School

In 1927, Mussolini introduced a new calendar, which made October 28th (the anniversary of the 'March on Rome') the start of the year, and used Roman numerals to denote the number of years that had passed since the fascists had come to power.  ​​

Via del Campidoglio

Via del Corso

Church of Santa Maria ai Monti

Fountain of the Moor, Piazza Navona

The fasces appear on the short granite columns that encircle the Fountain of the Moor in Piazza Navona. The columns also sport the letters E. F. (Era Fascista) and the year (of Mussoini's rule) that they were erected. 

A Manhole Cover Outside the Palazzo del Quirinale

Ponte Matteotti

Palazzo dell' INPS

The Piazza Augusto Imperatore was created at the behest of Mussolini and one of the buildings sports a large inscription to Il Duce, which is flanked by two winged figures, each of which displays the fasces. 

Palazzo dell' Anagrafe

The fasces on the facade of the Palazzo dell' Anagrafe (formerly the Palazzo del Governatorato) might have been erased, but the inscription remains: A · D · MCMXXXVIII · XVII A · FASC · REST · / VICTOR · EMAN · III REGE · IMP · / BENITO · MVSSOLINI · DVCE / PETRVS · COLVMNA · PRAEF · VRB. 

Palazzo dell' Anagrafe

The fasces, however, survive intact on the end wall of the building, overlooking the Via di Ponte Rotto. 

Piazza Oderico da Pordenone

A fine palazzo, which faces onto Piazza Oderico da Pordenone, in the Garbatella district, sports the traces of the fasces and a clear reference to the ninth year of the Fascist era, in other words 1931.

Emperor Hadrian, Gardens of Castel Sant' Angelo

In the 1930s Mussolini erected a number of bronze statues of Roman emperors. The most familiar are the ones lining the Via dei Fori Imperiali; much less well known is the statue of the emperor Hadrian, which stands in the park next to the Castel Sant' Angelo. 

​The pedestals all bear the words 'A FASCIBVS RENOVATIS' (since the renewal of the fasces) preceded by ANNO and a number in Roman numerals. 

Entrance, Villa Celimontana

Piazza del Viminale

In Piazza del Viminale there are four short stone columns, each bearing two eagles and part of an inscription in Latin: ITALIAE DVCIS AVSPICO / NOSTROS PER FINES PERGE / VICTRIX HINC PROCVL EVOLA / AVDAX PER ORBEM CLAMITANS (Proceed, under the auspices of the Duce of Italy, beyond our borders, and victoriously fly far away from there, making your loud cries heard, audaciously, around the world).

The inscription addresses the eagle as a victorious symbol of Italian Fascism and its renewed imperial ambitions. The word DVCIS has been largely erased, but the rest of the inscription is intact. 

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