Varese (IT), Sala Montanari (former Casa del Mutilato) [extant] - 1939
The
inscription (1939) is visible over the entrance of Sala Montanari (via dei
Bersaglieri 1), a building named after the painter Giuseppe Montanari
(1889–1976) and currently owned by the Municipality of Varese, used for
cultural events. The inscription is engraved in stone. Its author is unknown.
The
building was designed by architect Ottavio Coletti (1879–1960). Built between
1939 and 1940, it was intended to serve as the headquarters of Associazione
Nazionale Mutilati e Invalidi di Guerra (ANMIG; Association of War Mutilated
and Invalids). The façade has a trilithic porch in dark green serpentine, and
its architrave bears the Latin inscription. On the left side stands a
quadrangular tower covered in imitation travertine plaster. On the wall, there
were originally three fasces (later removed) and the symbol of the Associazione
Nazionale Mutilati (three swords surrounded by a crown of thorns). In the
building’s main hall, there is a large fresco by Giuseppe Montanari (1939)
depicting an allegory of Glory crowning those who fought for the Fatherland. On
either side of the fresco, there were two marble busts by the sculptor Daniele
Scola (1940) and depicting King Vittorio Emanuele III and Benito Mussolini
(they were destroyed after the Second World War). After the war, the building
was converted into a cinema (Cinema Rivoli) before being purchased and
renovated by the Varese municipality.
According
to Cronaca Prealpina, the local pro-regime newspaper, the building
was inaugurated on 2 June 1940, just days before Italy’s entry into the war
(Anonymous 1940a). The grand event featured a large parade starting from Piazza
Montegrappa, home to the Palazzo delle Corporazioni, and passing in front of
the monument to the fallen in Piazza dell’Impero (now Piazza della Repubblica).
The ceremony was attended by Fascist authorities, the ANMIG president
Alessandro Gorini (1890-1980), and Luigi Russo (1882–1964). Luigi Russo, who
had participated in the March on Rome, served as Undersecretary to the
Presidency of the Council (1939–1943). During the inauguration, a message from
Carlo Delcroix (1896–1977), a renowned war veteran and Fascist deputy, was read
to those attending the parade, addressing “la Varese Garibaldina e Fascista”
(the Garibaldian and Fascist Varese). The building and the epigraph were
blessed by Varese’s provost, Monsignor Alessandro Proserpio (1877-1948).
Following this, both Gorini and Russo delivered two solemn speeches (Anonymous
1940b).
The
inscription stands out prominently due to its frontal and elevated position.
The Latin text pays homage to wounded soldiers who had fought for Italy. The
fate of the soldiers of the First World War held particular significance for
early Fascism, especially during its Sansepolcrista phase. Fascism sought to
give new meaning to the sacrifice of these soldiers, aiming to make “their
blood flourish,” as the inscription suggests, by redeeming Italy from its
condition of subordinate power. This situation was often described in
propaganda with the term “Mutilated Victory,” coined by Gabriele D’Annunzio. In
his inauguration speech, Gorini stated that the Casa del Mutilato is “a temple
built by the gratitude of an entire people towards the idea of the most proven
sacrifice [...], to the idea of the purest, warmest, and reddest blood, which
alone can serve as the cement for that other great temple named Italy” (“Essa è
un tempio, un tempio edificato dalla riconoscenza di tutto un popolo all’idea
del sacrificio più provato [...], all’idea del sangue più puro, caldo e
vermiglio, che solo può far da cemento all’altro grandissimo tempio che ha nome
Italia”) (Anonymous 1940b).
Bibliography
Anonymous.
1940a.
‘Oggi il sottosegretario Russo rappresentante del Governo fascista inaugurerà
la Casa del Mutilato e la «Giornata della Tecnica»’. Cronaca Prealpina (2 June
1940): 4.
Anonymous.
1940b. ‘Nel
nome del Duce’. Cronaca Prealpina (3 June
1940): 4.
Guglielmi, Eugenio. 1999. Guida alla
città di Varese: itinerari di architettura del primo Novecento, Siracusa:
LetteraVentidue, 18-19.
Saldini, Alessandra. 2015. L’architettura
fra le due guerre in provincia di Varese: conoscenza e catalogazione.
Milano: Politecnico di Milano (MA thesis), 98-105.
Marcello Zeni
Façade of the former Casa del Mutilato (Varese). © M. Fioravanti.
The situation of the building in ca. 1940. From: Anonymous 1940a.
The inaugural parade, headed by Luigi Russo. From: Anonymous 1940b.