Giorgio Morra PHOTOGRAPHY

ETERNAL FASCISM - Photo-essay about Predappio Italy

Predappio is the place where the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883. After twenty-five years as Duce del Fascismo he was shot by partisans in 1945 and his body was publicly exhibited in the town square Piazzale Loreto of Milan. Twelve years later his remains found the way back to his birth place. Since then, Predappio became a place of pilgrimage for right-wing extremists and nostalgic people. Every year thousands of people travel to the small village to commemorate Mussolini’s birth and death. Also, the Italian far-right party Froza Nova organizes a yearly demonstration at the dictator’s grave - on the same day when Il Duce came to power in Rome. The center-left oriented inhabitants and the mayor try master this kind of nostalgic tourism, however the bad connections made to Predappios place of birth is a burden for the village. Though the population have a clear opinion about this situation they are facing a dilemma: Should they set against the or should they approve this kind of tourism in order to neutralize the village Predappio as a place of commemoration – or even something in between those two options? It is therefore almost ironic to see when the mayor of Predappio thinks about how to handle the increasing inflow of the Blackshirts and sympathisers in the present city hall at the former desk of Mussolini – while those sympathisers perpetuate themselves in a condolence book after taking snapshots in front of the grave and subsequently purchase sculptures of Mussolini and T-shirts with extreme right-wing inscriptions in souvenir shops. After this invasion they just disappear and distribute in Italy and Europe again

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) is still omnipresent in the Italian town of Predappio: as a bust in souvenir shops, in the family crypt in the town cemetery or at right-wing marches. The eponym of fascism ruled Italy for twenty-five years. He waged wars of aggression, set up concentration camps and deported people. Together with his allies, he plunged parts of the world into the catastrophe of the Second World War. Twelve years after his death, he was buried in his birthplace.

Since then, thousands of right-wing extremists and supporters from Italy and the EU have been travelling to the small town again. Predappio, with its 6,500 inhabitants and centre-left mayor Giorgio Frassineti (in office from 2009-2019), tried to counteract these activities.

Until he was voted out of office, Frassineti endeavoured to open Italy's first fascism documentation centre from the former home of the party, the ‘Casa del fascio e dell'ospitalità’. It was intended to take a critical look at Italy's fascist past and counteract the denial and glorification of the past. He faced political, financial and social headwinds until the very end.

Meanwhile, the far-right Italian party Forza Nuova organised the annual marches. These led from the main square of the fascist planned city to the dictator's family crypt. There, the participants immortalised themselves in the book of condolence, took snapshots in front of the grave, stocked up on far-right articles in one of the three souvenir shops and left the place again after the haunting.

The work ‘Eternal Fascism’ was created in 2014/2015 in Predappio and Forli, Italy.

Im italienischen Ort Predappio ist Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) noch allgegenwärtig: als Büste in Souvenirläden, in der Familiengruft auf dem Stadtfriedhof oder bei rechten Aufmärschen. Fünfundzwanzig Jahre lang herrschte der Namensgeber des Faschismus in Italien. Er führte Angriffskriege, errichtete Konzentrationslager und deportierte Menschen. Mit seinen Verbündeten stürzte er Teile der Welt in die Katastrophe des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Zwölf Jahre nach seinem Tod beerdigte man ihn an seinem Geburtsort.

Seither reisen wieder tausende Rechtsextremisten und Anhänger aus Italien und der EU in die Kleinstadt. Predappio, mit seinen 6500 Einwohnern und dem Mitte-links-Bürgermeister Giorgio Frassineti (2009-2019 im Amt), versuchte diesem Treiben entgegenzuwirken.

Frassineti bemühte sich bis zu seiner Abwahl, aus dem einstigen Haus der Partei, der "Casa del fascio e dell'ospitalità", das erste Faschismus-Dokumentationszentrum Italiens zu eröffnen. Es sollte sich kritisch mit Italiens faschistischer Vergangenheit auseinandersetzen und dem Leugnen und Verklären etwas entgegensetzen. Bis zuletzt stieß er auf politischen, finanziellen und gesellschaftlichen Gegenwind.

Unterdessen organisierte die rechtsextreme italienische Partei Forza Nuova die jährlichen Aufmärsche. Diese führten vom Hauptplatz der faschistischen Planstadt zur Familienkrypta des Diktators. Dort verewigten sich die Teilnehmer im Kondolenzbuch, machten Schnappschüsse vor dem Grab, deckten sich in einem der drei Souvenirläden mit rechtsextremen Artikeln ein und verließen nach dem Spuk wieder den Ort.

Die Arbeit „Ewiger Faschismus“ entstand 2014/2015 in Predappio und Forli, Italien.