Pisa 25 maggio- Anno V-
A S. E. Benito Mussolini
La division Generale delle antichità e belle arte.
Arduino Colasanti

Inscribed by Arduino Colasanti, the General of the Department of Antiquity and Fine Arts in Rome, to fascist leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini, this picture book of Pisa’s duomo demonstrates fascism’s desperate attempts to connect with what they saw to be a glorious past. Germany looked back to the Middle Ages to see a heroic ursprung for their peoples; Italy looked to the Renaissance to see the elegant intelligence of theirs. The history their national myths were based on, however, was largely misinterpreted and whitewashed to falsely support their nationalistic claims of historically-grounded superiority. Nevertheless, fascism built itself up, off of a Medieval and Renaissance time period that never existed.