550 Valentina Follo
The process by which the concepts, ideas, and themes taught in schools had to be
interpreted and presented so as to be consonant with Fascist principles led to the
adoption of a single textbook. Although a ministerial commission was entrusted with
this revision-cum-standardization, Mussolini once again became personally involved by
selecting many of the contributing authors himself. Employing every possible means to
promote Fascist ideals and mold theItaliano Nuovo—the new Italian—(the title of one
of the textbooks), the texts’ pages included illustrations of children wearing black shirts,
as well as pictures of the Italian flag and the fasces. The stories narrated Mussolini’s
achievements, his childhood, and Fascism’s successes: the Battle of Wheat (battaglia del
grano), the Ethiopian exploit, the provisions for children, the reclaiming of the Pontine
Marshes, and so on.
Accordingly, images conveying these Roman values were reproduced continuously, for
example, on the covers of school notebooks or report cards, as well as on more widely
circulating objects such as postage stamps. The same messages were further imparted
through visits to exhibitions and monuments, not to mention the mandatory participa-
tion in the parades and similar celebratory events organized by the regime. Italy’s younger
generations thereby became much more than spectators—indeed, they were actors in the
renaissance of Rome.
Through a sheer stroke of serendipity, the celebrations dedicated to the first anniver-
sary of the new empire coincided with the festivities that had already been planned in
honor of the bimillenary marking the very first emperor Augustus’s birth (Scriba 1995;
Argenio 2008; Kallis 2011; Marcello 2011; Arthurs 2012). This coincidence brought
about a proliferation of publications, both scholarly and popular, which highlighted each
and every point of overlap between the achievements of the first emperor and those of
Mussolini himself. In addition to such publications, archaeological excavations in Rome
and abroad (Butrinto) were organized. Moreover, two joint projects were initiated: the
restoration of the Ara Pacis and the so-called liberation of the Mausoleum of Augustus.
The redesign of the area encompassing the mausoleum, Piazza Augusto Imperatore, was
to collocate both monuments, so crucial to Augustan propaganda, in the same urban
space, creating a de facto “archaeological falsehood.” Freed of later-period buildings,
the mausoleum acted as the centerpiece of the new piazza, whereas the reconstructed
altar, moved from its original position along Via del Corso, flanked the side of the square
facing the river (Kostof 1978; Kallis 2011).
The crowning effort in the juxtaposition between Augustus and Mussolini, however,
was the exhibition centered onRomanità, conceived by Giulio Quirino Giglioli, the
curator in charge of the 1911 show (AAVV 1983; Barbanera 1998: 146; Arthurs 2012:
91–107). Much of the earlier exhibition’s objects were reused on this occasion. An entire
section was entitled “The Immortality of the Idea of Rome—the Rebirth of the Empire
in Fascist Italy.” Such blatant references to the empire’s present continuation were antic-
ipated at the main entrance to the exhibition by a conspicuous inscription of Mussolini’s
own motto, not so much greeting as exhorting visitors as they crossed the threshold:
“Italians! See to it that the glory of the future supersedes the glory of the past.” In no
uncertain terms, the Fascist regime was being exalted before the eyes of visitors, Italian
visitors nonetheless, as a continuation of the Roman Empire.
Mussolini’s program included a piece of legislation prepared by the minister of educa-
tion, Bottai, which remained in effect in its original wording up until 1999 (Troilo 2003).