Becoming Roman Again 545extension, the complexity of the Italian nation as a new, unified state, yet still divided in
terms of its geography and local identities. In addition to the diverse display of artifacts
originating from all four corners of Italian soil, fundamental conceptual themes were
also showcased, not least of which were Italian beliefs, customs, and traditions. Empha-
sis was placed therefore on the multivalent character of the Italian people. The objects
gave material form to this variety, yet the very act of collection created a kind of unity.
The artifacts would join the collection of the Ethnographic Museum of Florence at the
close of the celebrations before eventually reaching their final destination in the National
Museum of Ethnography, which was under construction at that time (known today as the
National Museum of Popular Art and Traditions, in the EUR district of Rome) (Mas-
sari 2011: 12). Not unlike the Musée d’archéologie nationale at St Germain-en-Laye,
founded by Napoléon III in 1862, and other similar collections in Europe, the artifacts
of the Regional and Ethnographic Show reconciled differences even as they affirmed
them. As a paper of the time noted, the Italic peoples in all their diversity were to “find
solidarity in the common ground that Rome came to represent” (La Tribuna, February
8, 1908, quoted in Massari 2011: 15).
Visually, celebrations were marked by a myriad of forms representing the myth of Rome.
Pavilions, for instance, were often adorned with decorative programs in relief and free-
standing sculpture, all of which were keyed to illustrating the official consecration of
Rome before the whole nation, and, indeed, the rest of the world. The pediment above
the entrance to the Regional and Ethnographic Show epitomized such efforts, for it was
fitted by the artist Enrico Quattrini with a sculptural group depicting a scene in which
various cities paid homage to a personified Rome.
April 8, 1911, witnessed the grand opening of an archaeological exhibition housed
in the newly restored halls of the Baths of Diocletian, which had by that time become
the official location for the Museo delle Terme (AAVV 1983; Barbanera 1998: 34–48;
Massari 2011: 172–3). With its display of common ancient origins, the show served
a very specific purpose, namely, to renew, indeed entrench, in the bosom of Italian
viewers a sense of both belonging and national identity. In this vein, Rome’s role in the
public and private spheres at provincial levels received special attention. Each province,
in fact, was invited to contribute reproductions of local evidence for Rome’s direct
influence on its built environment and material culture. In this way, molds and models
were also employed without necessitating any specialized knowledge on the part of
the viewer, thought to be readily able to perceive their message. Those responsible
for the exhibition ultimately endeavored to reach a vast audience with an array of
subjects, all ideologically charged, that had been theretofore accessible solely to the
ruling class.
The same year occasioned state-sponsored pilgrimages to the new capital. By then,
Rome had become home to monuments celebrating the newborn nation, which of
course stood side by side with those dating back to its glorious past (Tobia 1991;
Agnew 1998). The National Monument of Victor Emanuel II, for instance, had caused
a deafening hullabaloo because of its chosen location, next to the Capitoline Hill and
the Roman and Imperial Fora, as well as its form and style (Atkinson and Cosgrove
1998; Tobia 1998; Vidotto 2001: 137–9; Massari 2011: 166–9). The monument
was inaugurated on June 4, 1911, on the heels of the archaeological exhibition, and it
memorialized Italy’s first king. By extension, it also celebrated the entire country. The