Ideologies of Latin in fascist Italy (1922 1943)

Abstract

This book investigates the uses and cultural meanings of Latin during the Fascist ventennio (1922-1943), focusing in particular on the roles of the language in constructing historical and ideological connections between the Fascist regime and the Catholic Church. As the language of ancient Rome, Latin became an increasingly important element in the Fascist regime’s project to revive Rome’s imperial power in modern times. The Catholic Church, however, had been using the language for theological, liturgical, and educational purposes as well as its medium of communication for many centuries already. Latin was widely perceived as the Church’s language and as a symbol of its universality, authority and longevity. This twofold dimension of the language – its “Roman” and its “Catholic” dimension – opened up many possibilities to construct historical and ideological links between Fascism and Catholicism. This thesis shows how a variety of individuals – such as clergymen, schoolteachers, and Latinists – used Latin to conceptualize and construct such links in the Neo-Latin literature of the ventennio, in the public discourse on Roman antiquity, as well as in wider debates on the roles and functions of Latin in Fascist Italy.