This medal was designed by Aurelio Mistruzzi and produced in gold, silver, and bronze with diameters ranging in size from 24.8 mm to 85 mm. The mint where it was produced is unknown. It celebrates the inauguration of a transatlantic telegraphic cable system connecting Anzio in Italy with Buenos Aires in Argentina, a work begun in 1924 and finished by late 1925 (Migliorini 1928: 395).

 

The medal’s obverse features a female profile, probably symbolizing Rome. A similar profile portrait representing Rome is found on another Mistruzzi medal carrying the Latin legend Roma communis patria (Gentilozzi and Piermattei 2002: 86 [n. 126]).  To the left and right of the profile, there are images of a trireme on the sea and a trident, respectively. The Latin word Antium (Anzio) is inscribed on the left outer diameter.

 

The medal’s reverse combines Italian and Latin. The more practical details are given in Italian, specifically the occasion and date. The medal’s centre showcases an image of a woman on a dolphin. She can possibly be identified with Salacia, the Roman goddess of salt water. The Latin phrase, positioned just below the central image, is a novel composition, presumably by Mistruzzi. It expresses the notion of pan-Latinism, a sense of belonging to a gens Latina (‘Latin people’). Mussolini’s regime worked to strengthen relations and spread the political ideas of Fascism with countries where ‘Neo-Latin’ (Romance) languages were spoken, including those of Latin-America (Trento 2008 and Fotia 2020). Just below the Latin text is the heraldic symbol of the Savoy Knot, connected to the royal House of Italy. This side of the medal also featured on the front page of a booklet about the cable, La “Italcable” ed I suoi cavi per le Americhe, printed in the same year.

 

Mistruzzi’s drafts for the medal (reproduced in Imbellone 2011: 46) reveal an earlier version of the Latin inscription: Latina per undas corda jungit (‘it unites Latin hearts through the waves’). While it remains unknown what motivated Mistruzzi to alter the phrasing, the change from corda (‘hearts’) to gens (‘people’ or ‘race’) is significant and illustrates the racial rhetoric of some Fascists also in the early years of the ventennio. Furthermore, the change emphasises the unity of a single Latin people (gens) over the individual persons referred to by corda.