Italy & Mussolini

More about the Mussolini & Italy pages

The Italy home page begins with Mussolini's fascist form of authority, and follows through his death, the end of the regime, transition to another form, and consequences of this particular end. The first section presents the public and private sides of authority. Both the mass experience and individual identification with his virility were integral to his authority.

Click on any of the six small photos and you are linked to an enlarged image. For Mussolini we, in collaboration with Maria Pia DiBella, have decided on music or sound that are cinematic, operatic, or evocative of pageantry, since Mussolini consciously cultivated his public image in these ways. Several of the selections evoke both irony and pathos. They reinforce themes from the image, such as thievery or father-son conflict. Listen to the music or sounds by clicking on the small ear. Please be patient as sound files take some time to load.

The caption does not direct you outside the photo but rather to the image itself. What is included and excluded from view? What does this image and juxtaposed sound say about authority? The three longer "home page" texts that accompany the images and sounds of each section attempt a succinct narration of the theme.

We selected images for their potential evocative force, knowing full well that they lend themselves to different interpretations. Often, as with the juxtaposition of the corpses of Mussolini and Aldo Moro, we intend to elicit the viewer's ambivalence with death imagery. How might one disidentify with Mussolini and identify with Aldo Moro? How did Italy actually exit from its fascist regime of violence?

The second section, on Death and Transition, depicts how Mussolini, together with his mistress, was killed, and hung in a public square. His body received special care: three autopsies. What does this suggest about ending a regime?

Finally, the three "home page" texts that accompany the images and sounds of each section attempt a succinct narration of the theme. They point to the story, told in more detail in the book and film.

The third section, Consequences, implies no causal relationship but alludes to key events in the construction of political authority, half a century of experience, following the regime's end. What was the nature of the rupture in political authority following the death of the Father? Our selection of ongoing historical events merely suggests ways into further exploration of Italian political authority.

John Borneman & Linda Fisher, June 1999