These inscriptions (1927) can be read on the floor of the Hall of the Map of the World (‘Sala del Mappamondo’) of Palazzo Venezia (the name derived from the planisphere located here at the end of the fifteenth century, lost today). The inscriptions were authored by Corrado Ricci and Santi Muratori (Hermanin 1930–31: 468; Diebner 2016: 349).

The inscriptions are in Roman square capitals, executed in marble letters inlaid in the floor. Inscription 1 is on the left side of the mosaic at the centre of the floor, inscription 2 on the right side. The inlaid decorations include fasces with Fascist dating (Anno V°) to the left and an imperial eagle to the right.

The texts are short and simple and concern the recent history of Palazzo Venezia. Inscription 1 recalls that the building was claimed by the Italian State after Italy’s entry into World War I; it had housed the embassy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire since 1797 (see also the inscription in the Consistory Hall of Palazzo Venezia). The Latin translation ingens bellum for ‘Great War’ (instead of bellum mundanum or bellum orbis terrarum) and the anastrophe has reddidit aedes are notable. Inscription 2 celebrates the conclusion of the restoration of the Hall of the Map of the World in 1927. The Fascist dating is expressed by the uncommon wording lictoriae aetatis, which is the literal translation of the Italian formula era fascista.

After the Italian state took possession of the building, Palazzo Venezia was used as the theatre of victory celebrations in the afterwar years. As Fascism exploited World War I in its propaganda to obtain consensus, Mussolini chose it as seat of his government, and the Hall of the Map of the World served as his personal office (Nicita 2000: 39).

The mosaic at the centre of the floor was designed by Pietro D’Achiardi (1879–1940). It represents the rape of Europa surrounded by sea monsters and was inspired by the mosaics of the Bath of Neptune in Ostia Antica or, more likely, by the one found during the construction of the Ministry of Finance and there preserved (Diebner 2016: 329; Diebner 2017: 683). Palazzo Venezia was restored under the supervision of Federico Hermanin (1868–1953), director of the Medieval and Renaissance Museum hosted in it between 1916 and 1938.

Bibliography

Diebner, Sylvia. 2016. ‘Romanità fascista im Palazzo Venezia in Rom inszenierung der Macht im Arbeits- und Repräsentationssaal von Mussolini’. RIASA 71 (s. 3, 39): 325–406.

———. 2017. ‘Roma, Palazzo Venezia: la Sala del Mappamondo e il suo mosaico (1927)’. In Atti del XXII Colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico, edited by Claudia Angelelli, Daniela Massara, and Andrea Paribeni, 679–88. Tivoli: Scripta Manent Edizioni.

Hermanin, Federico. 1930-31. ‘La Sala del Mappamondo nel Palazzo di Venezia’. Dedalo 11: 457–81.

Hermanin, Federico, and Mario Salmi. 1948. Il palazzo di Venezia. Rome: La Libreria dello Stato, 115–20.

Nastasi, Antonino. 2019. Le iscrizioni in latino di Roma Capitale (1870-2018). Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 160–61.

Nicita, Paola. 2000. ‘Il museo negato. Palazzo Venezia 1916-1930’. Bollettino d’Arte 114: 29–72.

Antonino Nastasi