Deciphering Rome's Walls: Neo-Fascist Iconography

If you've been in Rome 15 minutes, you've already seen, and lamented, the vast amount of graffiti that adorns the city.  Much of it--notably the ubiquitous "tags" (initials, signatures) of graffiti "artists" (we're not talking about the colorful, design-based lettering that lines the train and Metro tracks)--is close to worthless, lacking in the "redeeming social value" that was the US legal standard applied to pornography in the 1960s.  That said, the stuff is there, and one can either a) try to ignore it or b) take an interest in aspects of it--separate the wheat from the chaff--using the walls of Rome as a window on contemporary culture. 

Note the highly stylized fasci,
below right. 

Some of this reading of contemporary Italian culture requires a knowledge of Italian and a Roman friend or two, and RST can't supply either on the blog.  But there's one area--the iconography of neo-Fascism--where a little help goes a long way. 

Mussolini's Fascist movement (roughly 1919-1945, with Fascism officially in power from 1922 to 1943) made use of Roman symbols.  One of the most signifcant was the Fascio Littorio (the bundled sheaves of wheat, with protruding axe, symbolizing power over life and death), first used as a Fascist symbol in 1919.  The poster above left, using a drawing to advertise the Monday after Easter, features three small, highly stylized fasci.

The Latin/Roman influence,
apparent in the typography of a
Fascist building

Fascism also often used a "V" - the Roman way of writing (in ancient times in stone) a "U" - on its buildings and posters, and the "V" was employed by the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, and Japan) during World War II.  On the facade of a Fascist-era building in EUR known as the "square coliseum," an inscription begins, "VN (UN) POPOLO...."  ("a people...."). 

During the Fascist years, the "M" (for Mussolini, and hence for Fascism) was everywhere; indeed, in the 1930s a Fascist administration building in the new town of Latina (in the reclaimed marsh land southeast of Rome) was constructed in the shape of an "M."  The building still stands today.

A prominent flattened "S" on
a 1939 poster ("Squadristi"). 

A contemporary flattened "S,"
referencing the Fascist era.

Certain other letters or modes of lettering--the squared off C is one example--may also represent a neo-Fascist hand at work.   Another letter that was widely used and was highly symbolic of Fascism is the flattened, modernist-looking "S" (above, right and left). 

A Celtic cross

The postwar (and especially post-1970) neo-Fascist movement used, and uses, all these symbols, sometimes in modified form, and you'll see them all on the walls of Rome.  You'll also see one symbol that was NOT used by Mussolini's Fascists.  The Celtic Cross was first used by a French Fascist party in the 1930s, then adopted by Italian neo-Fascists in Italy and elsewhere in the 1970s.  The iron cross at left is flanked by two letters of significance for Fascism: the "M" and the "V."

A Fascist "M" and a
highly stylized Fascio Littorio

In several places we've encountered the word "Militia," followed by a figure we at first could not decipher (right).

A Fascist-era poster, 1936

The Militia "M" is adapted from a typeface used by Mussolini's regime (left).  And the curious end figure, we concluded, was a highly stylized version of the Fascio Littorio (compare with those above and below). 

Mayor Alemanno, attacked as a Zionist

We learned more about that "M" with the arrests a few days ago (December 13) of the leader of the "Militia," Maurizio Boccacci, and four others identified with the group.  They were charged with spreading racial hatred, inciting violence, and engaging in acts against the Jewish community and against Rome's Mayor, Gianni Alemanno (right). 

A "pietra d'inciampo," a
memorial paving block

Another 11 persons are under investigation for similar offenses, including supporting fascism.   Specifically, the Militia members were accused of having defaced the walls of the capital with Nazi writings and with having defaced "pietre d'inciampo"-- engraved memorial paving stones in brass (resembling special sanpietrini)--that were designed by a German artist and installed beginning in 2010 in front of the homes of Jews deported from Rome to Nazi concentration camps during World War II. 

The Militia denies the Holocaust

On one wall, signed with the Militia "M," the group attacked the upcoming (January 27) anniversary of the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Nazism, known here as "il Giorno della Memoria"--essentially a day for recalling the horrors of the Holocaust and remembering its victims.  "27/1 non c'é memoria!" translates "January 27: there is nothing to remember!", probably a denial that the Holocaust ever took place. 

On another wall, the words "Pacifici continui a meritare il fosforo bianco" refers to Riccardo Pacifici, the president of the Jewish community in Rome; Pacifici "continues to deserve the white phosphorus," a reference to the lethal compound widely used in warfare since World War I.  Several Militia writings appeared in Monti, a tourist area near the Coliseum.  One of them said "Israele non esiste" ("Israel doesn't exist").  And on Via Tasso, the street that housed the SS prison from which political prisoners were removed to be executed in 1944 (and now houses a museum to honor those prisoners), someone had written, "via Tasso uguale bugia" ("Via Tasso is a lie").  Elsewhere, the anti-semitic Militia attacked Alemanno as a "Sionista" (a Zionist) [above right]. 

Boccacci, 54, is known to authorities for his extreme right-wing views and for a long history of participation in rightist militant groups, dating to the 1970s.  He defines himself as a "soldato fascista senza compromessi" ("a fascist soldier without compromise") and has said, "I admire what Hitler did.  The Jews were enemies that opposed his plans."  Of the Militia members thus far identified, two were 54 years old, two 26, and one 43.  Two, including Boccacci, were residents of Albano Laziale (a town in the Alban Hills close to Rome), two of Rome, and one of Ascoli Piceno (about 150 miles northeast of Rome).  Until recently, the group was headquartered in a gymnasium in the north Rome suburban quartiere of Vigne Nuove, just beyond Monte Sacro. 

With thanks to MV for assistance with this post,

Buon deciphering!
Bill

Manhole Covers: Art and Politics

If we didn’t know that Bocca della Verita', now one of Rome’s major tourist attractions, was once a manhole cover, we might have been more reluctant to introduce today’s subject. Even so, we don’t expect the average tourist to spend the day looking down, eagerly anticipating the next “cover,” or stooping to feel the patina created by thousands of shoes over many decades, or pondering the date of a particularly compelling version of the genre. But then we’re not writing for the “average” tourist. So here goes.

The manhole cover above has two worthy elements. Like many covers, it has the letters SPQR, for Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and the people of Rome). Once used on the shields of Roman legions, the letters were also popular with Mussolini’s Fascists and today appear on the coat of arms for the city of Rome and on all manner of other things, from sidewalk poster frames to…manhole covers. In this case, SPQR are carried out in a highly stylized, modernist lettering common in Italian design in the early 1930s--note the similarity to the typeface used in the Cherry Show poster from 1932--so it’s likely that this cover was made in that period.

The design to the left of the letters is apparently a version of the Celtic Cross. The Celtic Cross is a very old religious symbol, especially dear to Presbyterians and Catholics and, according to some, invented by Saint Patrick in the 5th century in an effort to combine the Christian symbol of the cross with the pagan symbol of the sun. However, the Celtic Cross on this manhole cover comes without the “ring” that represents the sun, and it doesn’t even have the shape of the standard Christian Cross; all sides are of equal length. So what we have here is a highly derivative version based on the Celtic Cross, but adapted for modern design purposes.

Manhole covers are part of the city’s maintenance system, and so they’re marked in practical ways that help workers know what’s down there. The cover below and to the right, with Arresto SPQR on one side, and Saracinesca on the other, explains that when the cover is removed, you’ll find a valve or nipple (saracinesca) that can be turned off or stopped (arresto). The letters around the center--ACEA--refer to Rome's public/private power and water company.

Some covers tell us where they were made, and by what company. The one below was obviously made in Giovanni Berta’s foundry (fonderia) in Florence—a foundry located, actually, in an area just north of Florence called “delle Cure.” It’s not famous for manhole covers (not, anyway, until this blog), but the name reflects an ancient trade once practiced there: the washing of linen cloth to soften and whiten the material. Fascinating! The crown above reveals that Italy was still a monarchy, and the attenuated Celtic Cross appears once more, in the same position.

This cover, too, has the SPQR, and with it, the fasci, symbol of Fascism. That combination—SPQR and fasci—appears on our final example (below), located in viale delle Provincie, running off Piazza Bologna—don’t miss it!

This gem tells us that there’s water service inside (Servizio Idraulico); that it was made at the Roman Foundry; and—an added treat—that it was manufactured in the tenth year of the Fascist Era (X is ten, EF is Era Fascista)—that is, ten years after the 1922 March on Rome, or 1932. (We have not pinned down the meaning of the A and V letters. They might stand for an Italian version of Annular Velocity, a term in fluid dynamics that refers to the speed of a fluid's movement in a column; or refer to a common abbreviation for the Province of Avellino. Or something else.)

On one level, these are just details. But they can help us toward an answer to a question on which there is a difference of opinion: under Fascism, were the letters SPQR “Fascist”? Because it was common to combine the letters with the fasci of Fascism, it seems likely that the letters, too, carried a Fascist valence—then, if not now.

Keep your head down....happy hunting! Bill