These seven inscriptions can be read on the headquarter of the National Institute of Statistics (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica) which, until 1989, was named Central Institute of Statistics (Istituto Centrale di Statistica, brief ISTAT). They were authored (1–5) and adapted from Tacitus and Livy (6–7) by Vincenzo Ussani (Ferraironi 1937: 379; Ussani 1942: 361). The building was erected at Via Cesare Balbo by request of Benito Mussolini and inaugurated on 28 October 1931 (see Archivio Storico Istituto Luce, A Roma Mussolini inaugura opere pubbliche, Giornale Luce A0878, 11/1931).

The inscriptions are in Roman square capitals in metallic letters that were attached to the building’s façade. They are placed under the frames at the corners of the building (1 and 2 on the left side, 3 and 4 on the façade, 5 on the right side along Via Agostino Depretis) and over the main entrances (6 and 7 at Via Cesare Balbo 14 and16, respectively). The Consiglio Superiore of ISTAT commissioned the inscriptions. It had asked Mussolini for permission to use Latin mottoes, which he gave (Leti 1996: 116).

The texts can be divided into two groups. The first consists of inscriptions 1–5, which can be read as a continuous text (Istituto Centrale di Statistica 1936: 52; Leti 1996: 116 nt. 27). The second group consists of inscriptions 6 and 7.

The general idea of the first five inscriptions is that statistics play a crucial role in the government of the state. This idea is in line with Mussolini’s own views on the role statistics should play in Fascist Italy (Leti 1996: 475–78). The inscriptions suggest a parallel between the role of statistics in the state (3 and 5) and the role of numbers in the laws governing the universe (2 and 4).

Inscription 4 is an adaptation from a passage in Cicero’s De re publica (6.18), in which it is stated that seven is “a number which is the key to almost everything” (numerus rerum omnium fere nodus est). Cicero refers to a Pythagorean theory, but in this inscription the statement is generalized to include numbers in general. 

The formulation of inscription 5 had a history of its own during the ventennio fascista. It was used as a motto to promote population growth, which was a tenet of Fascist politics. The word numerus came to mean the number of people (see e.g. Tesauro 1938: 339). This interpretation was probably suggested by Mussolini’s famous phrase of 18 March 1934: “Condizione insostituibile del primato è il numero” (“The number is the irreplaceable condition of the primacy [of the nation]”) (Mussolini 1958: 190). The same inscription was repeated inside the building, on the back wall of the aula magna, probably at the end of the 1930s.

The second group of inscriptions consists of inscriptions 6 and 7: both inscriptions are substantial quotations from the Roman historians Tacitus and Livy and accompany sculptures by Publio Morbiducci (1889–1963). The iconography of these sculptures was decided by Corrado Gini (1884–1965), who presided over ISTAT from 1926 until his resignation in 1932.

Inscription 6 accompanies a sculpture representing the Egyptian goddess Seshet (or Seshat), who was the goddess of, among other things, accounting and mathematics and is here turned into a symbol of statistics (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica 1936: 52). The inscription quotes a passage from Tacitus’ Annales (2.60.3–4), in which an ancient Egyptian priest from Thebes reads an Egyptian text to Germanicus which describes how many and what kind of tributes specific Egyptian subjects donated to the pharaoh. The inscription manipulates the Tacitean text by adding the first phrase of section 3 (manebant structis molibus litterae Aegyptiae) to section 4 and by omitting the words et omnium utensilium between frumenti and quaeque.

Inscription 7 accompanies the sculpted image of Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome (not simply a censor as it is claimed in Istituto Centrale di Statistica 1936: 52). Servius Tullius was the first to establish the census of the Roman population. The inscription quotes Livy’s description of the so-called Servian constitution, which introduced the census in Rome (1.42.5). It adapts Livy’s wording by adding the name Servius Tullius and omitting enim (‘for’) between censum and instituit.

The purpose of these elaborate citations is to present two ancient examples of (mainly fiscal) census that could be a model and inspire ISTAT’s action. These two inscriptions had not been realized when the building was inaugurated in October 1931 (but they were probably added very soon after the event).

In the entrance hall at Via Cesare Balbo 14, an Italian inscription was carved which stated: “Regnante Vittorio Emanuele III, Benito Mussolini duce ai nuovi fati della patria inaugurava questo edificio addì XXVIII ottobre MCMXXXI, anno IX e(ra) f(ascista)” (“Under the reign of Victor Emmanuel III, Duce Benito Mussolini inaugurated this building to the new fates of the fatherland, on 28 October 1931, the 9th year of the Fascist era”). This inscription was deleted after World War II, together with the Savoyard coat of arms and the fasces sculpted over the same entrance (they were substituted by the emblem of the Italian Republic) (see Istituto Centrale di Statistica 1936: 50–51, tables). On the same occasion, the fascist dating Anno IX under the emblem was also deleted but was restored in 2006.

Bibliography

Ferraironi, Francesco. 1937. Iscrizioni ornamentali su edifici e monumenti di Roma con appendice sulle iscrizioni scomparse. Rome: Industria Tipografica Romana, no. 20-6.

Leti, Giuseppe. 1996. L’Istat e il consiglio superiore di statistica dal 1926 al 1945. Annali di Statistica 10, 8. Rome: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica.

Mussolini, Benito. 1958. Opera omnia, vol. XXVI. Dal Patto a quattro all’inaugurazione della Provincia di Littoria: 8 giugno 1933 – 18 dicembre 1934. Edited by Duilio Susmel and Edoardo Susmel. Vol. 26. 35 vols. Florence: La Fenice.

Istituto Centrale di Statistica. 1936. Decennale 1926-IV – 1936-XIV. Rome: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato.

Nastasi, Antonino. 2019. Le iscrizioni in latino di Roma Capitale (1870-2018). Rome: Quasar, 3-8.

Tesauro, Giuseppe. 1938. ‘La sterilità femminile’. Atti della Società Italiana di Ostericia e Ginecologia 35: 242–357.

Ussani, Vincenzo. 1942. Scritti di filologia e umanità. Naples: Ricciardi.

Antonino Nastasi