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The ''Era Fascista'' ("Fascist Era") was a 
The tenth anniversary of the March on Rome, ''Anno X'', was called the ''Decennale'' (evoking the ancient Roman ''
The ''Era Fascista'' ("Fascist Era") was a calendar era
A calendar era is the period of time elapsed since one ''epoch'' of a calendar and, if it exists, before the next one. For example, it is the year as per the Gregorian calendar, which numbers its years in the Western Christian era (the Coptic ...
(year numbering) used in Fascist Italy. The March on Rome
The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, ...
, or more precisely the accession of Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
as prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
on 29 October 1922, is day 1 of '' Anno I'' of the ''Era Fascista''. The calendar was introduced in 1926 and became official in ''Anno V'' (1927). Each year of the ''Era Fascista'' was an ''Anno Fascista'', abbreviated ''A.F.''
The ''Era Fascista'' calendar was inspired by the French Republican calendar.
''Era Fascista'' dates often consisted of the Gregorian date followed by the corresponding ''Era Fascista'' year in Roman numerals
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
, as part of Fascist propaganda's appropriation of ancient Roman iconography. The ''Era Fascista'' year was sometimes written as "''Anno XIX''", "''A. XIX''", or marked "''E.F.''" The calendar was intended to replace the "bourgeois" Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
in Italian public life to the extent that, in 1939, newspapers were forbidden to write about New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
.
The tenth anniversary of the March on Rome, ''Anno X'', was called the ''Decennale'' (evoking the ancient Roman ''Decennalia Decennalia (or Decennia, from Latin ''decennium'' - "tenth anniversary"; ''decem'', "ten" + ''annus'', "year") were Ancient Roman festivals celebrated with games every ten years by the Roman emperors.
The festival owed its origin to the fact that ...
''). The propaganda centerpiece of ''Anno X'' was the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution
The Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution (''Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista'') was a show held in Rome at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni from 1932 to 1934. Opened by Benito Mussolini on 28 October 1932, it had 4 million visitors.
Its director a ...
.
The calendar was abandoned in most of Italy with the fall of the Fascist regime in 1943 (''Anno XXI''), but continued to be used in the rump Republic of Salò
The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...
until the death of Mussolini
The death of Benito Mussolini, the deposed Italian fascist dictator, occurred on 28 April 1945, in the final days of World War II in Europe, when he was summarily executed by an Italian partisan in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra in ...
in April 1945 (''Anno XXIII'').Paolo Monelli, ''Mussolini: An Intimate Life'', 1953, p. 288
Many monuments in Italy still bear ''Era Fascista'' dates.
References
{{Authority control Calendar eras Italian Fascism 1926 establishments in Italy 1943 disestablishments in Italy 1926 introductions