GUGLIELMO MARCONI: Fascist Hero of Science (and more)
CONTENTS:
(1) THE VIEW FROM PIAZZA MARCONI (ROME)
(2) MARCONI, MUSSOLINI, JEWS
(3) DEATH AND AFTERLIFE
(1) THE VIEW FROM PIAZZA MARCONI (ROME)
The Marconi Obelisk still rises dramatically from Marconi Square, centerpiece of the EUR quarter of Rome—Benito Mussolini's ultimate fantasyland.
In 1937, this imposing oval space was conceived as Piazza Imperiale (Imperial Square), hub of Via dell'Impero (Empire Street), chief artery of the revitalized Fascist Capital. The longest thoroughfare entirely within Rome's city limits, it runs for 27 kilometers (nearly 17 miles) from Piazza Venezia in the center of town to the old port of Ostia.
Piazza Imperiale was the heart and soul of the EUR (Esposizione Universale Roma or E.42)—an ultra-monumental new quarter destined to host a grandiose World's Fair marking the twentieth anniversary of the Fascist Revolution (1922-1942).
But history got in the way—as is its wont. Italy was facing disaster in the Second World War, which triggered the implosion of the Fascist Regime and the cancellation of its wildly overblown celebrations. But much of the EUR had already taken shape and survives today—both an architectural marvel and an ironic joke.
After the war, Via del Impero became Via Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus Street) and Piazza Imperiale became Piazza Guglielmo Marconi (Guglielmo Marconi Square).
"Say what?! The Fascists move out, then they move back in?!" But that is business as usual in the EUR, where Mussolini often has the last laugh.
Marchese Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi (1878-1937) was a brilliant scientist, usually hailed as the father of telecommunications and a Nobel Laureate (Physics, 1909). He was also a bold careerist and a formidable exponent of Italy's Fascist Regime.
(2) MARCONI, MUSSOLINI, JEWS
Rivendico l'onore di essere stato in radiotelegrafia il primo fascista, il primo a riconoscere l'utilità di riunire in fascio i raggi elettrici, come Mussolini ha riconosciuto per primo in campo politico la necessità di riunire in fascio le energie sane del Paese per la maggiore grandezza d'Italia.
I claim the honor of being the the first fascist in wireless transmission, the first to recognize the usefulness of uniting electrical waves in a bundle (fascio). In the same way, Mussolini was the first in the field of politics to recognize the necessity of gathering in a bundle (fascio) this country's healthy energies for the greater glory of Italy.
Marconi crafts precise yet compelling imagery, bridging the gap between science and myth. In ancient Rome, the fascio—or fasces—was a firmly tied bundle of rods signifying strength, unity and authority. In Mussolini's Italy, it was all that and a good deal more.
GUGLIELMO MARCONI:
Senator of the Kingdom of Italy (1914).
President of the National Research Council (1927).
President of the Italian Academy (1930).
Member of the Grand Council of Fascism (1930).
Marconi's influence was vast, rooted in an unassailable alliance with the Duce himself. In the public sphere, his chief vehicle was the Reale Accademia d'Italia (Royal Italian Academy)—conceived by Mussolini in 1926, then operating in opera buffa splendor from 1929 to 1944.
According to the Academy's charter:
L'Accademia d'Italia ha per iscopo di promuovere e coordinare lettere e delle arti, di conservarne puro il carattere nazionale, secondo il genio e le tradizioni della stirpe, e di favorirne l'espansione e l'influsso oltre i confini dello stato.
The scope of the Italian Academy is to promote and coordinate the arts and letters, to preserve their pure national character according to the spirit (genio) and traditions (tradizioni) of this lineage (stirpe), while favoring their expansion and influence beyond the borders of this state.
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The key word is STIRPE—lineage, ancestry, descent—stopping just short of RAZZA—race—a term that became increasingly current in Italy in the later 1930s under Nazi influence.
In any case, no one of Jewish lineage, ancestry or descent was admitted to the Royal Italian Academy during the seven years of Marconi's presidency (1930-37)—however illustrious and "Italian" they might appear.
But Guglielmo Marconi was no vulgar idealogue—always a gentleman, a marchese in fact. He simply inscribed a discreet "e" (for Ebreo/Jew)—whenever required—on lists of seemingly eligible academicians. And that was that...
There were some startling cases, none more so than that of Alessandro della Seta, the most esteemed Italian archeologist of his day—back when archeology was revered as an essential guide to "national character". For twenty years (1919-39), he served as director of the Italian School of Archeology in Athens while simultaneously holding the chair of Etruscology at the University of Rome (1926-38).
Professor della Seta was an ardent Fascist—like many acculturated Jews—and he enjoyed the personal esteem of Benito Mussolini. Still, that was not enough for him to crack Marconi's Italian Academy, in the halcyon years before the strict application of the Racial Laws in 1938.
(3) DEATH AND AFTERLIFE
Guglielmo Marconi died on 20 July 1937. His massive public funeral was decidedly military in tone—as befit an unrivaled exemplar of national strength and purpose.
Sasso Bolognese (Bolognese Promontory)—hastily renamed Sasso Marconi—was the favored site for his grand mausoleum, near Villa Griffone, historic home of the inventor's family.
Work began in the Spring of 1940 and was completed with astonishing speed (in wartime, no less). Then on 6 October 1941, Guglielmo Marconi was solemnly entombed, wth a horde of fellow black shirts in attendance.
The Duce—of course—was mourner-in-chief.
Sasso Marconi today is much as the Duce left it in 1941, although the crowds have largely dissipated—apart from occasional school groups.
Generations of more advanced scientists have come and gone, relegating Marconi's innovations to a tenuous past.
Meanwhile, political realities have shifted beyond recognition, along with venerable assumptions of national identity.
The interior of the mausoleum is even more chilling than the exterior, with its knife-sharp edges and polished blankness.
Then there is the inscription...
DIEDE CON LA SUA SCOPERTA IL SIGILLO
A UN'EPOCA DELLA STORIA UMANA
***
WITH HIS DISCOVERY, HE SEALED
AN EPOCH OF HUMAN HISTORY
Or else:
WITH HIS DISCOVERY, HE IMPRESSED HIS IDENTITY
ON AN EPOCH OF HUMAN HISTORY
A sigillo is a seal, strictly speaking, a blob of lead or wax stamped with a particular design, used to secure a letter, a package or something else.
The scoperta—discovery—was Marconi's radiotelegraph. But scientific achievement was only part of his story and that did not end at the grave.
For the Mussolini Regime, Marconi's death was both a grievous loss and an exhilarating opportunity, since deceased heroes are more adaptable than living ones.
His body lay in a newly fashioned national shrine—but that was in the Bolognese hinterland, out of sight and far too easily out of mind.
Meanwhile, the Piazza Imperiale (Imperial Square) was emerging—in the very heart of Fascist Rome.
In 1939, a vast spire—Egyptian obelisk and fantastic radio tower, all in one—was ordered from the sculptor Arturo Dazzi. At that time, Dazzi was also realizing the marble head for Marconi's mausoleum.
Work on the Obelisk ground to a halt almost immediately—in 1940, when Italy entered World War Two. Only in 1957 did the monument reach its full 45 meters (nearly 150 feet), in spite of fervent efforts to demolish it entirely.
One age's triumphalism is another's awkward joke, while ages come and go at lightning speed. What was Arturo Dazzi thinking anyway, while intoning his merry ode to Fascist progress—at the least propitious of times?
Italian women and children lead a joyful chorus—broadcasting mankind's thanks to Guglielmo Marconi.
A crew of African men join in—raising glad voices from the other end of Italy's fragile Empire.
There are 92 of these scenes, rising higher and higher—realized with increasing haste and diminishing coherence.
But that was then and this is now...
What about Guglielmo Marconi today?
We pick up that story on another continent:
MARCONI AND BALBO DISCOVER AMERICA
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