Stadio dei Marmi - Parata militare Mussolini

The Stadio dei Marmi ("Stadium of the Marbles") is one of four stadiums in the colossal sports complex the

Foro Italico Foro Italico is a sports complex in Rome, Italy, on the slopes of Monte Mario. It was built between 1928 and 1938 as the Foro Mussolini (literally Mussolini's Forum) under the design of Enrico Del Debbio and, later, Luigi Moretti. Inspired ...

, initially named Foro Mussolini.Giorio, Maria Beatrice. “La Scultura Fascista Di Soggetto Sportivo Tra Bellezza e Propaganda Ideologica.” ''Italies'', no. 23, 2019, pp. 68., doi:10.4000/italies.6979. The other stadiums are the Stadio Olimpico, the Stadio del tennis Romano, and the

Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto The Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto (Olympic Swimming Stadium) is an aquatics centre at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. Inaugurated in 1959, it was designed by the architects Enrico Del Debbio and Aniballe Vitellozzi to host the swimming, diving, wa ...

.Dyal, Mark. "Football, Romanità, and The Search For Stasis." In Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City, edited by Marinaro Isabella Clough and Thomassen Bjørn, 175. Indiana University Press, 2014. Accessed March 4, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gzp33.15. It was designed in the 1920s as a complement to the annexed Fascist Academy of Physical Education (now the seat of

CONI The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...

, Italian Olympic Committee), to be used by its students for training.Baxa, Paul. 2010. Roads and Ruins: The Symbolic Landscape of Fascist Rome. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. BAXA, PAUL. "Demolitions: De-familiarizing the Roman Cityscape." In Roads and Ruins: The Symbolic Landscape of Fascist Rome, 73. University of Toronto Press, 2010. Accessed March 30, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/9781442697379.8. The Stadio dei Marmi first opened in 1932, on the 10th anniversary of 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, ...

, near the Roman neighborhood

Monte Mario Monte Mario (English: Mount Mario or Mount Marius) is the hill that rises in the north-west area of Rome (Italy), on the right bank of the Tiber, crossed by the Via Trionfale. It occupies part of Balduina, of the territory of Municipio Roma I ...

, by the architect Enrico Del Debbio under the Fascist ruler Benito Mussolini. The Stadio dei Marmi is encircled by sixty, 4-meter tall classical statues of athletes made from

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mot ...

marble. The stadium was built to celebrate Fascist accomplishments and the Gioventú del Littorio, the youth movement of the National Fascist Party of Italy. In its twenty-year reign, the Fascist regime used sports to introduce and instill new fascist traditions, ideals, customs, and values, with the goal of forming citizen warriors. The Stadio dei Marmi was used to host some of the field hockey preliminaries for the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

and also hosted the opening ceremony for the

2009 World Aquatics Championships The 2009 World Aquatics Championships ( it, Campionati mondiali di nuoto 2009) or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines ...

History

Early on, the Fascist movement saw the potential of using sports to promote its political and economic ideologies. Immediately after the

, the Fascist regime invested in large-scale sports arenas, buildings, and institutions, such as the Stadio dei Marmi, which made sports accessible to all classes of society.Giorio, Maria Beatrice. “La Scultura Fascista Di Soggetto Sportivo Tra Bellezza e Propaganda Ideologica.” ''Italies'', no. 23, 2019, pp. 66., doi:10.4000/italies.6979. Through sports, Fascist institutions emphasized and promoted Fascist values, which developed a national identity. The most prevalent and valued sports included combat sports such as

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

, Greco-Roman wrestling, and javelin, hammer, or stone throwing.Giorio, Maria Beatrice. “La Scultura Fascista Di Soggetto Sportivo Tra Bellezza e Propaganda Ideologica.” ''Italies'', no. 23, 2019, pp. 67., doi:10.4000/italies.6979. Through physical education and sports, the Fascist government aimed to create professional militia and warriors, who would readily enter war. Mussolini began the construction of the

in 1928 as the central sports city and, in 1932, he opened the Instituto Superiore Fascista di Educazione (Fascist Institute for Physical Education) as the first male athletic institution.McLean, Eden K. "From Instruction to Education." In Mussolini's Children: Race and Elementary Education in Fascist Italy, 97. LINCOLN; LONDON: University of Nebraska Press, 2018. Accessed March 30, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv19x4pm.9. The importance that the Fascist regime placed on male physical education highlighted the characteristics of the ideal Fascist citizen, as well as the rigid gender binaries it instilled within Italian culture. After its unveiling, the Stadio dei Marmi became the leading physical education training center for the Gioventù Italiana Littorio, the youth movement of the National Fascist Party of Italy.Impiglia, Marco. “Arte Sportiva Fascista in Italia (1922-1943).” ''Academia.edu'', www.academia.edu/34320668/ARTE_SPORTIVA_FASCISTA_IN_ITALIA_1922_1943. During the Fascist period, the Stadio and complex became the nation's center for athleticism and increasingly renowned until Italy joined the war in 1940. According to the historian Eden K. McLean, "the Mussolini Forum was designed to forge educators and political leaders united by an Italian-Fascist sensibility about the past, present, and future of the race."

Sculptures and architecture

The sixty towering

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

athletic statues ringing the stadium were gifted by the Italian provinces and embodied the ancient cardinal Roman values: virilitas, fortitudo, disciplina, and gravitas (virility, fortitude, discipline, and dignity). They were designed and produced by twenty-four sculptors, who were chosen form a contest, and included artists like Nicola D'Antino, Aldo Buttini, Silvio Canevari, Carlo de Veroli, Publio Morbiducci, Eugenio Baroni, Arnolfo Bellini, Francesco Messina, and

Romano Romanelli Romano Romanelli (14 May 1882 – 25 September 1968) was an Italian artist, writer, and naval officer. He is best known for his sculptures and his medals. Romanelli was born in Florence, the son of sculptor Raffaello Romanelli. Romano's wor ...

. The sculptors adhered to classical forms and elements, when they used Greek and Roman statues as models, such as

Doryphoros The ''Doryphoros'' (Greek Δορυφόρος Classical Greek , "Spear-Bearer"; Latinised as ''Doryphorus'') of Polykleitos is one of the best known Greek sculptures of Classical antiquity, depicting a solidly built, muscular, standing warrior, o ...

of Polykleitos and

Discobolus The ''Discobolus'' of Myron (" discus thrower", el, Δισκοβόλος, ''Diskobólos'') is an Ancient Greek sculpture completed at the start of the Classical period at around 460–450 BC. The sculpture depicts a youthful male athlete thr ...

of Myron, which stood out against the plain white marble architecture of the stadium. The statues, monuments, and architecture produced under the Fascist regime were a fusion of ancient Roman and modern elements. According to the architect Enrico Del Debbio, the sports complex was designed as an "architectonic complex of severe monumentality ... the result is the emergence of a monumental group, which can be traced back to the greatest monuments of ancient Rome." The impressive statues of the Stadio dei Marmi resemble the ancient Roman Foro Imperiale.Higgins, Valerie. “Rome’s Uncomfortable Heritage: Dealing with History in the Aftermath of WWII.” Archaeologies9, no. 1 (2013): 30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-013-9226-3. These statues, which incorporated classical elements, served to glorify Mussolini, in order to equate him to

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, the Roman emperor, and memorialize Fascism. "The obvious references to Rome, claimed Fascist propagandists, made the Foro Mussolini the living embodiment of the 'Mediterranean spirit and the Latin world at its best.'"

Renato Ricci Renato Ricci (1 June 1896 – 22 January 1956) was an Italian fascist politician active during the government of Benito Mussolini. Biography Ricci was born on 1 June 1896 in Carrara into working-class family. He first came to prominence ...

, chief of the Opera Nazionale Balilla (O.N.B), the Fascist youth organization, oversaw the design and sculpting process of the statues encircling the Stadio dei Marmi, aiming to ensure stylistic standardization and visual consistency between the sculptures carved by the various artists. The statues represented the most esteemed Fascist sports and were intended to evoke heroism by displaying monumental and imposing athletes in static, powerful, and valiant poses with a focus on gestures and proportions, rather than in arbitrary motion or action. Many of the statues are shown at rest, in vigorous stances. In Aroldo Bellini's statue of an ''Atleta che scaglia una pietra'' (athlete throwing a stone), for example, the athlete's pose lacks signs of any physical exertion. The Stadio dei Marmi exemplifies the ancient body politic metaphor: the important interrelationship between the ideal male body and the ideal nation.Griffiths, Jennifer S. "Re-envisioning Italy’s ‘New Man’ in Bella Non Piangere! (1955)." In Cultures of Representation: Disability in World Cinema Contexts, edited by FRASER BENJAMIN, 188. LONDON; NEW YORK: Columbia University Press, 2016. Accessed March 5, 2021. doi:10.7312/fras17748.17. Its large-scale athletic sculptures represent the idealized, strong, masculine body that was fundamental to Fascist ideology while strengthening the belief that through sports '

mens sana in corpore sano ''Mens sana in corpore sano'' () is a Latin phrase, usually translated as "a healthy mind in a healthy body". The phrase is widely used in sporting and educational contexts to express that physical exercise is an important or essential part of men ...

' (healthy mind in a healthy body) can be achieved.

The Olympic games and subsequent use

Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana a EUR Roma cropped

Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Italy's Fascist regime invested in large-scale construction projects such as the new neighborhood

Esposizione Universale Roma EUR is a residential and business district in Rome, Italy, part of the Municipio IX. The area was originally chosen in the 1930s as the site for the 1942 World's Fair which Benito Mussolini planned to open to celebrate twenty years of Fascism, ...

(EUR), which included the

Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, also known as the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro, or in everyday speech as the ("Square Colosseum"), is a building in the EUR district in Rome. It was designed in 1938 by three Italian architects: Giovanni ...

, and the Foro Mussolini (now known as the Foro Italico), which contained the Stadio dei Marmi. To this day, these monuments, buildings, stadiums, statues, and neighborhoods are incorporated into Italy's past, culture, and history, due to both the lack of funds in post-war Italy to rebuild major districts and buildings and the presence and persistence of Fascist ideology. After the Fascist regime was defeated in 1943, the Foro Italico was not destroyed and demolished because it was used by the Allied military as a refuge center. Following Mussolini's reign (1922 to 1943), the Stadio dei Marmi has been continuously used for various sporting events including the

1960 Summer Olympic Games The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, when it hosted the field hockey tournament.Higgins, Valerie. “Rome’s Uncomfortable Heritage: Dealing with History in the Aftermath of WWII.” Archaeologies9, no. 1 (2013): 32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-013-9226-3. The 1960 Olympic Games presented an opportunity to unveil Italy's new democratic identity.Malone, Hannah. “Legacies of Fascism: Architecture, Heritage and Memory in Contemporary Italy.” ''Modern Italy'', vol. 22, no. 4, 2017, pp. 462., doi:10.1017/mit.2017.51. Leading up to the Olympic Games, officials began debating the obvious fascist insignia,

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s, and elements surrounding the sporting complex and how the world might respond to them.Higgins, Valerie. “Rome’s Uncomfortable Heritage: Dealing with History in the Aftermath of WWII.” Archaeologies9, no. 1 (2013): 33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-013-9226-3. At the time, visitors from all around the world arrived at the Foro Italico, passing the sixty-foot tall marble obelisk with the inscription 'Mussolini Dux' and then witnessing an array of mosaics and marble slabs celebrating both the Fascist leader and the movement. During the 1960s, there was a strong political divide between the left and the right. As the left came to power and suggested removing overtly Fascist symbols within and surrounding the Olympic stadium, there was substantial Fascist opposition. The Neo-Fascists, supported by the

Movimento Sociale Italiano The Italian Social Movement ( it, Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national ...

, demanded that: 'la storia non si cancella' (history must not be erased). Two of the extremely inflammatory inscriptions were taken down, but many were preserved out of fear that those who celebrated Fascism and its ideology would revolt and disrupt Italy's democratic and united appearance. Social, economic, and political influence, as well as the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

's power allowed "the Fascist past

o be O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), pl ...

drowned under the weight of the classical and Christian heritage."Higgins, Valerie. “Rome’s Uncomfortable Heritage: Dealing with History in the Aftermath of WWII.” Archaeologies9, no. 1 (2013): 36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-013-9226-3. The Vatican owned the land underneath the stadium, and the Pope, Pope Pius XII, supported the use of the stadium for the Games because it not only would attract many visitors, but also bring in revenue for the

.Higgins, Valerie. “Rome’s Uncomfortable Heritage: Dealing with History in the Aftermath of WWII.” Archaeologies9, no. 1 (2013): 35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-013-9226-3. During the 1960s, there was little focus, controversy, or criticism placed on the "Fascist heritage" or its "political origins" and the purpose of the stadium, but rather on the history of ancient Rome and its classical elements used in the design of the statues within the stadium and the architecture of the stadium itself. Prior to the 1990 Football Championships, the Foro Italico underwent a large-scale restoration.Malone, Hannah. “Legacies of Fascism: Architecture, Heritage and Memory in Contemporary Italy.” ''Modern Italy'', vol. 22, no. 4, 2017, pp. 464., doi:10.1017/mit.2017.51. Some people supported the restoration of these stadiums as an initiative to protect Italian historical heritage, while others considered it as an act of honor to the Fascist leader, Mussolini. The restoration was managed by

Walter Veltroni Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serv ...

, the Minister of Culture, who stated: "To condemn ascismwe need to understand, historicize, and rationalize it, not remove it."Malone, Hannah. “Legacies of Fascism: Architecture, Heritage and Memory in Contemporary Italy.” ''Modern Italy'', vol. 22, no. 4, 2017, pp. 465., doi:10.1017/mit.2017.51.

Romanità and the Fascist regime

Romanità is "a deep affection for Rome and things Roman, in an effort to identify with a primordial Rome that is impervious to contemporary political and social trends."Dyal, Mark. "Football, Romanità, and The Search For Stasis." In Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City, edited by Marinaro Isabella Clough and Thomassen Bjørn, 172. Indiana University Press, 2014. Accessed March 4, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gzp33.15. This fondness arose in Fascist society through the emphasis that it placed on sports as a form of civic and military education, and it continues to thrive within Italian soccer culture. Apart from being a Fascist site, the Stadio dei Marmi, with its ancient Roman and Greek inspired statues, and modern, pure, and simple architecture, is also a site of Romanità, where all Italian social classes learned values of unity, vigor, and virility. Extremists argue that the grandeur of Stadio dei Marmi itself is an exemplar of "superiority of Roman cultural forms." Through sports and the concept of Romanità, the Fascist regime not only associated itself with Ancient Rome, but strengthened and unified itself.Dyal, Mark. "Football, Romanità, and The Search For Stasis." In Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City, edited by Marinaro Isabella Clough and Thomassen Bjørn, 178. Indiana University Press, 2014. Accessed March 4, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gzp33.15. To this day, the concept of Romanità continues to inhabit the Stadio Olimpico, at the Foro Italico, with the rival soccer teams

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

and S.S. Lazio.

Criticism

Professor Valerie Higgins, Program Director of Sustainable Cultural Heritage, remarked that the decision to keep almost all Fascist monuments, inscriptions, symbols, and architecture visible was not an act of negative heritage or tribute to past terror, but an act to fake and preserve a united appearance to the world. Therefore, she argued that the use of the Stadio dei Marmi in the 1960 Olympic Games was an example "of the way that Italy has never fully come to terms with its role in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, and the spectre of that lack of reckoning continues to haunt heritage planning." Recently, there has been much debate surrounding what to do with monuments, inscriptions, buildings, and architecture that have Fascist origins, where the Left maintains that democratic Italy should not erase its history, the

Moderates Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...

claim indifference, and the

Right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...

views these sights solely as architecture rather than Fascist propaganda.

References

{{Authority control Sports venues completed in 1928 Venues of the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey venues Sports venues in Rome Rome Q. XV Della Vittoria 1928 establishments in Italy