1 Cover image of DVX by Margherita Sarfatti (1934). Bust of Mussolini, Adolfo Wildt, 1923, marble 2
2 Piazza Venezia, Anniversary Rally, founding of Fascist Movement, 23 March 1935 5
3 Palazzo Venezia, façade, 1455–92 (photo 2013) 8
4 Piazza Venezia, schematic plan, c.1935 9
5 Piazza Venezia / Foro Italico (Foro dell’Impero Fascista), aerial view (photo c.1950) 10
6 Piazza Venezia, view toward north and Via del Corso (photo 1929) 11
7 Via dell’Impero, aerial view (photo c.1935) 12
8 Via del Mare (ex-Via Tor de’ Specchi) with Theater of Marcellus and Tarpeian Rock, view from the Campidoglio Ramp (photo 1933) 13
9 Piazza del Quirinale, schematic plan 19
10 Palazzo del Quirinale (left) and Palazzo della Consulta (right) (photo 2009) 19
11 Ferdinando Fuga, Palazzo della Consulta, 1732–37, façade, central section 20
12 Gianlorenzo Bernini, Benediction Loggia, Palazzo del Quirinale, 1638 21
13 Palazzo Chigi, Piano Nobile floorplan 22
14 Salone della Vittoria, Palazzo Chigi, north wall, c.1923 24
15 Winged Victory, bronze, 1.95m, second half of first century CE, Capitolium, Brescia 25
16 Mussolini at his desk in Palazzo Chigi, Salone della Vittoria, 1926 26
17 Danese Cattaneo, bust of Alessandro Contarini, marble, Basilica del Santo, Padua, c.1550 27
18 Palazzo Chigi, corner of Via del Corso (right), Piazza Colonna and Column of Marcus Aurelius (left) (photo c.1910) 29
19 Piazza Colonna, schematic plan, 1920s 30
20 Mussolini at corner balcony, Palazzo Chigi, 7 April 1926 39
21 Detail of Palazzo Venezia facade, main entrance portal and balcony (photo 2015) 50
22 Palazzo Venezia, main entrance passage, concrete vault 51
23 Cortile Loggia, Palazzo Venezia, c.1467–71 (photo 2018) 52
24 Palazzo Venezia complex, drawing, seventeenth century 55
25 Arturo Pazzi (after Giuseppe Sacconi), drawing of ideal Piazza Venezia with symmetrical buildings, 1902/03 58
26 Arturo Pazzi and Guido Cirilli, Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali, façade, 1903–06 (photo 2013) 59
27 Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali, façade, central section with balcony and sixteenth-century lion relief (photo 2013) 61
28 Piazza Venezia, schematic plan, c.1900 64
29 Angelo Zanelli, Goddess Roma and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, flanked by bas-reliefs of Labor and Patriotic Love, 1925, Vittoriano, Rome (photo 2015) 66
30 Balcony with Mussolini and Starace, 23 March 1935, anniversary founding of Fascist Movement 71
31 Via del Corso, view north from Piazza Venezia, Palazzo Bonaparte (ex-D’Aste), 1658–67, left, and ex-Albergo di Piazza Venezia, 1745–48/1878, right (photo 2009) 73
32 Triumphal circuit of archaeological zone, 1934 (Campidoglio, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill) 76
33 Palazzo Venezia Piano Nobile floorplan c.1935 80
34 Luigi Marangoni, Scala d’Onore (Scala Nova), Palazzo Venezia, 1932 (photo 2018) 82
35 Sala Regia, Palazzo Venezia 84
36 Sala delle Battaglie (ex-Concistoro), Palazzo Venezia 86
37 Sala del Mappamondo, south wall, Palazzo Venezia, 1927 87
38 Sala del Mappamondo, west wall with heraldic wreath (arms of Innocent VIII Cybo flanked by Cardinals Marco Barbo and Lorenzo Cybo) 88
39 Sala del Mappamondo, northwest corner, Palazzo Venezia (photo 2020) 89
40 Fra Mauro, Mappamondo, parchment in wood frame, c.1460, 2.4 × 2.4m 92
41 Federico Hermanin, ceiling, Sala del Mappamondo, 1927, Palazzo Venezia 93
42 Sala del Mappamondo, northwest corner, Palazzo Venezia, c.1930 95
43 Pietro D’Achiardi, Thiasos (Marriage of Neptune and Amphitrite), Sala del Mappamondo, floor mosaic, 1927 97
44 Pietro D’Achiardi, Rape of Europa, Bozzetto, 1927, oil wash on wood, 38 × 59.3cm 99
45 Sala del Mappamondo during Gran Consiglio Meeting, Palazzo Venezia, 25 February 1929 102
46 Sala del Mappamondo, trial configuration for Meeting of Gran Consiglio (?), February 1929 103
47 Gran Consiglio Meeting, 11 December 1937, Sala del Gran Consiglio (ex-Sala del Pappagallo), Palazzo Venezia 108
48 Sala delle Fatiche d’Ercole (Labors of Hercules Room), Palazzo Venezia, fresco, c.1471–72, installation, c.1929 109
49 Didactic illustration: visitor’s path of entry, Sala del Mappamondo, Palazzo Venezia. Pietro D’Achiardi, Thiasos, floor mosaic 112
50 Mussolini and Starace (left) with GUF delegation from University of Padua, 3 April 1934, Sala del Mappamondo 122
51 Mussolini and Moschettieri del Duce Comandante Antonio Nino Cloza, Sala delle Battaglie (ex-Concistoro), 12 February 1931 123
52 Agricultural workers recognized for their contribution to the “Battle for Grain,” Sala Regia, Palazzo Venezia, 3 May 1936 124
53 Mussolini with award-winning fascist youth group, Sala Regia, Palazzo Venezia, 29 October 1934 125
54 Giuseppe Valadier and Giovanni Battista Caretti, Villa Torlonia, Rome, 1835, with Triumph of Bacchus pedimental sculpture (Rinaldo Rinaldi) 127
55 Luigi Corsini and Sesto Baccarini, Rocca delle Caminate, Meldola (Predappio), 1924–28 130
56 Foro Italico, 1932 plan with inlaid pavement geometry and superimposed directional axes (planted areas in gray) 136
57 Via dei Fori Imperiali (ex-Via dell’Impero), axial view, Sunday, 8 March 2015, Vittoriano sculptural group, left 137
58 Via dell’Impero, inaugural cavalcade, 28 October 1932 138
59 Via dell’Impero, view from Palazzo Venezia, 1933 139
60 Foro Italico, 1932, plan with superimposed oval geometry and cross axis 142
61 Piazza San Pietro and Basilica, Vatican, aerial view 143
62 Gianlorenzo Bernini, Piazza San Pietro with colonnade arms, 1656–67, plan with superimposed oval 144
63 Master Plan Commission (Gustavo Giovannoni), project drawing for colonnade arms, Foro Italico, plan, 1930 145
64 Master Plan Commission (Antonio Muñoz), project drawing for colonnade arms, Foro Italico, perspective view, 1930 146
65 Raffaele De Vico (after Corrado Ricci), project drawing for travertine steps and arboreal screens, Foro Italico, 1932 148
66 Piazza del Campidoglio, plan with pre-1940 pavement geometry (1860) 150
67 Piazza Venezia and Via del Corso, view from Vittoriano looking north (photo 2009) 154
68 Corrado Ricci, project drawing for arboreal arms flanking Vittoriano with ideal sightlines, Foro Italico, 1931 156
69 Alfredo Gauro Ambrosi, Aerosintesi Simultanea del Duce Aviatore (Simultaneous Aerosynthesis of Duce Aviator), oil on canvas, 123 × 114cm, 1938 (ex-Caproni Coll.) 158
70 Armando Brasini, elevation project drawing for Mole Littoria with superimposed Saint Peter’s Basilica, 1937 161
71 Coronation of Pius XI, façade and piazza, Saint Peter’s Basilica, 12 February 1922 164
72 Don Bosco canonization, Benediction Loggia balcony, Saint Peter’s Basilica, 1 April 1934 165
73 Saint Peter’s Basilica, Illumination, 17 May 1925 179
74 Procession of Pius XI, Piazza San Pietro, Don Bosco canonization, 1 April 1934 183
75 Adalberto Libera and Antonio Valente, Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista, Sacrario, 1932 185
76 Altar of the Fallen Fascists, Campidoglio Garden, 1926 186
77 Giuseppe Terragni, Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista, events of 1922, Room O 188
78 Giuseppe Terragni, Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista, events of 1922, Room O, detail, mass meetings 189
79 Giuseppe Terragni, Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista, events of 1922, Room O, detail, election of Pius XI, Saint Peter’s Basilica (top center) 191
80 Francesco del Borgo, Basilica di San Marco, Rome, Benediction Loggia, 1466–70 195
81 Palazzo Venezia with San Marco Benediction Loggia (left) (photo 2015) 197
82 LUCE film still frame, Declaration-of-Empire Public Rally, Vittoriano Illumination, 9 May 1936 198
83 Hall of Augustus, Mostra Augustea della Romanità, 1937 206
84 Hall of Christianity, Mostra Augustea della Romanità, 1937 207
85 Hall of the Immortality of the Idea of Rome and the Rebirth of the Empire in Fascist Italy, Mostra Augustea della Romanità, 1937 209
86 Marcello Piacentini and Attilio Spaccarelli, Via della Conciliazione, plan, 1944 212
87 Marcello Piacentini and Attilio Spaccarelli, Via della Conciliazione, axial view toward Saint Peter’s Basilica, 1950 214
88 Obelisk-stele of Axum, Piazza di Porta Capena, Rome, dedication ceremony, 31 October 1937 215
89 Marcello Piacentini and Attilio Spaccarelli, Via della Conciliazione, project design with Propylaea-screen, photomontage, 1936 217
90 Urbi et Orbi Benediction, Piazza San Pietro, postcard, photomontage with Pius XII, looking toward Rome, Easter 1941(?) 218
91 Giuseppe Massani, “Il Duce Parla,” photomontage, 10 June 1940 220
92 Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali during rally of PNF Hierarchs, 17 October 1932 222
93 Logo, Confederazione Generale Fascista dell’Industria Italiana (Confindustria), 1926–34 226
94 Magneti Marelli loudspeaker advertisement, Rivista Illustrata del Popolo d’Italia, June 1938 232
95 Close-up of Mussolini at balcony balustrade, Palazzo Venezia, 30 September 1938 236
96 Il Mattino Illustrato, cover, 10–17 October 1938 239
97 Pie chart, genres of balcony appearances at Palazzo Venezia, 1929–43 247
98 Bar Graph, balcony appearances by year, Palazzo Venezia, 1929–43 248
99 Alfredo Furiga, project sketch for Via dell’Impero installation for Hitler’s nocturnal arrival in Rome, 1938 252
100 Fortieth anniversary rally commemorating the Battle of Aduwa, 1 March 1936, Piazza Venezia, Rivista Illustrata del Popolo d’Italia, centerfold, March 1936 258
101 Duce sends Roman schoolgirls to summer camp, 5 July 1931, Palazzo Venezia 263
102 Acclamation of Mussolini and Hitler on Palazzo Venezia balcony, 7 May 1938 265
103 Armed forces celebrate birthday of Vittorio Emanuele III, Vittoriano, Piazza Venezia, 11 November 1936 271
104 Palazzo Generali and Vittoriano during night rally, 11 December 1937 275
105 Palazzo Venezia decorated with laurel swags and Flemish tapestries for Hitler’s Rome Visit, May 1938 277
106 Searchlights between triumphal chariots, Vittoriano, May 1938 278
107 Giovanni Antonio de’ Rossi, Palazzo Bonaparte (ex-D’Aste), 1658–67 (photo 2015) 279
108 Napoleonic eagle and wreath with Bonaparte di Canino Coat-of-Arms, Palazzo Bonaparte, Rome 280
109 Albergo di Piazza Venezia Illumination, Vittorio Emanuele III declared King of Albania, Piazza Venezia, 13 April 1939 281
110 Arturo Pazzi (?), memorial plaque to Cesare Battisti, Albergo di Piazza Venezia, 1916 (photo 2007) 282
111 Proclamation of Empire, Public Rally, Piazza Venezia, 9 May 1936 284
112 Vittoriano Illumination (Fuochi di Bengala), Piazza Venezia, 15 November 1939 285
113 Decennale platform speech, Piazza Venezia, 16 October 1932: STET CAPITOLIVM FVLGENS, tapestry 293
114 Platform speech, Piazza Venezia, 28 October 1936: STET CAPITOLIVM FVLGENS, tapestry 294
115 A. Buongiovanni (?), Rivista Illustrata del Popolo d’Italia, Cover, April 1934 300
116 “The Duce Ardently Acclaimed by Students in Piazza Venezia,” Popolo d’Italia, 16 November 1939 303
117 “Basta con i balconi!” postwar election posters, Palazzo Venezia, 1946 311
118 Costantino Costantini, obelisk, Foro Italico (ex-Foro Mussolini), 1932 315
119 Antonio Muñoz, Four Maps of the Expanding Roman Empire (1934), Basilica of Maxentius, Via dei Fori Imperiali (ex-Via dell’Impero) (photo 2009) 319
120 Principal emotional centers of the brain (components of limbic system). Inner side of the right hemisphere, with front pointing left, cross-section 343