The Ghost of Il Duce: Mussolini’s Legend Still Haunts Italy

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Mussolini’s dictatorship ended more than 80 years ago, yet the fascination that some Italians continue to hold for his personality has never disappeared, and time has failed to extinguish it.

In his book The Ghost of Mussolini, Stephen Gundle writes that “dictators embed themselves in the consciousness of the nations they rule, attracting expressions of love and admiration which, however perverse or artificial they may seem, and however brutal and terrifying their rule may have been, rarely disappear.”

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According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, this observation applies to Italy more than to any other European country. The newspaper noted that “Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship, which lasted from 1925 to 1943, was surrounded by myths that he revived Italian society and politics, resolved the conflict between capital and labour, and made the trains run on time.” These myths, it added, did not disappear in the post-war period.

The succession of chaotic political crises and frequent changes of Italian governments during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s also contributed to making Mussolini’s rule appear, at least in retrospect, as a period of stability.

Even today, Il Duce remains an influential figure in Italian politics, with some continuing to regard him as a model of “strong and masculine leadership.”

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The Telegraph noted that the prominent jaw, the steel helmet, the fiery speeches delivered from the balcony of Palazzo Venezia, his hands resting on his hips, his mistresses and the draining of the Pontine Marshes remain among the images most strongly associated with Mussolini in the minds of many Italians.

These images often overshadow the gassing of Ethiopian civilians, his growing alliance with Adolf Hitler, and the end of his life, when his body was hung upside down from a metal structure at a petrol station in 1945 after he had been captured and executed by communist partisans.

Mussolini continues to maintain a powerful presence in Italian culture and politics. Neither the establishment of the Italian Republic, nor democracy, nor European integration has succeeded in permanently erasing his legacy.

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In 1996, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was then an active member of the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement, said that Mussolini was “a skilled politician” who had “done everything he could for Italy.”

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed a similar view, stating that Mussolini had “done well in many areas.”

In his book, Stephen Gundle explains Mussolini’s enduring place in Italy’s collective memory by arguing that “the fascist regime itself is no longer necessarily viewed negatively, but sometimes through an optimistic lens, as a modernising force when compared with the more backward-looking nature of Nazism.”

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Gundle, a professor of film and television studies at the University of Warwick, offers a detailed account of how audiovisual media and the press have portrayed Mussolini throughout the 81 years since his execution.

Several actors have portrayed Mussolini on screen, including George C. Scott and Bob Hoskins. However, according to Gundle, the most compelling portrayal of the dictator was delivered by Rod Steiger in the 1974 film Mussolini: Ultimo atto, also known as The Last Days of Mussolini.

Gundle also argues that the cult surrounding Mussolini was “the first modern cult of personality,” even predating those of Lenin and Stalin. According to him, the Soviet leaders, as well as Hitler, learned from the Italian dictator how to cultivate an almost religious loyalty to a political leader.

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Many wall slogans dating back to the Fascist era are still visible today, including “The strength and glory of labour” and “Rome is destined to become once again the leading civilised city in all of Western Europe.”

Debates over the restoration of important public buildings constructed during Mussolini’s rule, particularly those possessing “considerable architectural and sometimes artistic value,” continue to play a significant role in Italian political discourse.

When these buildings are reconstructed or restored, they are often allowed to retain what the author describes as “pseudo-Roman ornamentation that served as a fundamental pillar of Fascism,” in contrast to Nazi symbols such as the swastika in Germany.

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One reason why Mussolini has, to some extent, escaped the lasting stigma associated with the Nazis is the absence of extermination camps specifically established for Jews in Italy.

This has sometimes led to a minimisation of the tyranny exercised under Mussolini, including the imprisonment of trade unionists and socialists, the killing of journalists and the systematic control of the media.

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