Piazza Augusto Imperatore in the newsreels of Istituto LUCE: the imperial facet of the uses of the Roman past in fascist Italy in the 1930s

• Grant number: 22/10258-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Glaydson José da Silva
• Grantee: Augusto Antônio de Assis
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/07038-8 - Relations between Antiquity and Modernity in Fascist Italy: analysis of the systematization process of Piazza Augusto Imperatore, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

In Fascist Italy, Roman Antiquity was constantly mobilized in order to support and legitimize political agendas. The instrumentalization of the past in this context aimed not only to establish historical parallels, but a continuum that linked Mussolini's Italy to Ancient Rome. The regime's increasing authoritarian escalation in the 1930s directly reflected the desired past. The Roman Empire, with a focus on its founder Augustus, became increasingly dear to fascism, a factor made explicit by the renewed colonialist pretensions that resulted in the occupation of Ethiopia and subsequent proclamation of the Empire in 1936. The associations between the leaders, ancient and fascist, acquire prominence with the commemorations of the Bimillenary of the birth of Augustus, between 1937-1938. Furthermore, one of the main celebratory locus of this relationship took place in Piazza Augusto Imperatore, built by the regime from 1931 around the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome. The numerous medieval buildings in the surroundings were considered as a symbol of a moral decay, liable therefore to systematic destruction, ratified by the urban regulatory plans. In the square, moreover, the altar with the greatest representation of the Augustan "Pax" would be rebuilt in 1938, the Ara Pacis Augustae. The present research proposal is inserted in this context, seeking to analyze the uses of the past in the construction process of Piazza Augusto Imperatore, carried out by the fascist regime in the process of legitimizing its imperialist pretensions in the 1930s, as well interfering in the memorial process. The main sources are newsreels - short feature films - produced by the Istituto Nazionale LUCE, a parastatal entity responsible for the educational cinematography of fascism. The numerous stages of systematization of the square were broadcast in the newsreels, showing usefulness for the study of the discursive strategies of representation of the culto della romanità.