In a programmatic article, first published in 2015, we argued that the Latin language played a significant cultural role under Italian Fascism (1922–1943, a period known as the ventennio fascista). We showcased a number of original Latin texts from this period, and began to explore what it meant to write in Latin during the ventennio, arguing that Latin functioned as the language of Fascist romanità, but also as a modern and a specifically Fascist language, as a national and an international language, and as the language of Italian imperialism.
Since then, we have expanded on this work in a number of other publications. For example, in 2016, we published an edition, commentary, and translation of a particularly high-profile Fascist Latin text: Aurelio Amatucci’s Codex Fori Mussolini, written on parchment and deposited under the obelisk at the Foro Italico in Rome in 1932. We argue that the Codex was intended for rediscovery in the distant future, when it would help shape the future reception of Italian Fascism. Latin, the supposedly ‘eternal’ language of Rome, was employed to help achieve this aim.
We have also just published (together with Valerio Sanzotta) an edited volume on the Latin Literature and Epigraphy of Italian Fascism, which brings together scholars from different backgrounds and disciplinary perspectives to explore, for example, the role of Latin in educational contexts, or the continuities between the ideological role of Rome in pre-Fascist nationalism and during the ventennio.
Since 2017, the project has continued and expanded as part of the research agenda Anchoring Innovation, funded by an NWO Gravitation Grant. The concept and mechanisms of ‘anchoring’ are currently being researched by Classical scholars at six universities across the Netherlands. ‘Anchoring’ refers to ‘the dynamic through which innovations are embedded in and attached to what is (perceived as) older, traditional, or known’ (Sluiter 2017, 32; also accessible in a pre-print version here).
We explore how the use of Latin in Fascist Italy can be understood as a means of ‘anchoring’ the revolutionary ideology of Fascism in the Roman past. Since 2018, PhD candidate Nicolò Bettegazzi has been investigating the role of the Latin language as an anchoring mechanism for both Catholic church and Fascist state during the ventennio. We will also shortly begin to recruit a postdoctoral researcher, who will explore the role of ancient Greek and/or Latin under German National Socialism.
Our research team is also developing a digital edition platform: Fascist Latin Texts (FLT), aimed at making available Fascist Latin texts in a scholarly, open-access environment. FLT is made possible by the financial and technical support of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Oslo and will be hosted on the website of the University of Oslo.
Anchoring the Fascist Revolution 