SKATING OVER HISTORY (Mussolini Forum)



A Row of Fasces 
with their illusory message of Strength, Unity
and ultimately, World Domination…



Benito Mussolini borrowed this emblem from the magistrates of ancient Rome, who were accompanied in public by lictors bearing tightly-bound bundles of birch rods, with conspicuously emerging axeheads.

This setting is…or at least was…suitably grandiose. The Foro Mussolini (Mussolini Forum) - a vast athletic complex realized in the Fascist Capital in 1928-43.


The Duce was never stingy with symbols. And here - in one of the focal sites of his regime - we see a lavish outpouring of imperial imagery. 

 Ancient Rome...Modern Rome...Ancient Empire...Modern Empire (represented by the tenuous assemblage of Italy, Libya and Abyssinia on the globe beneath the lion's paw.)


And now, present-day Romans are evolving their own athletic rituals. Taking possession of a strangely alluring past.
  
More MUSSOLINI?

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More MYTHIC ROME?

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PHOTOGRAPH: Scene at the Foro Italico in Rome (the former Foro Mussolini) © Lyle Goldberg

3 comments:

  1. alice alfredSeptember 5, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    Incredible. I like that you included the skater ~ wonder if he is an American...in my blog world (Southern California), I have noticed most do not even know who Mussolini is.

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  2. Edward GoldbergSeptember 6, 2011 at 2:40 PM

    Well, just by looking at the guy, I can almost hear the heavy-duty Roman accent... My brother and I have hundreds of photos from the Foro Italico and we will see about letting some more of them loose on the world!

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  3. alice alfredSeptember 6, 2011 at 8:27 PM

    That would be marvelous...!!

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