FLT Inscription: Plaque, Congress of the National Dante Alighieri Society 'Latiale caput'

This bronze plaque, measuring 48 mm in width and 66 mm in height, was designed by the Florentine artist Mario Nelli for the 37^th Congresso Società Nazionale Dante Alighieri (Congress of the National Dante Alighieri Society) in 1932. An entry in the online catalogue Numismatica Italiana claims, without giving any evidence, that the plaque was first produced in 1935 to commemorate the congress. However, this seems unlikely and contradicts the more authoritative catalogues of Casolari 1996 and Gentilozzi and Piermattei 2002, which claim it was made for the congress in 1932. This dating seems by far the more credible.

The obverse gives the occasion of the plaque in Italian together with the place and date. The date is given according to both Christian and Fascist calendars. The centre shows a depiction of a statue of Julius Caesar in imperial dress on a base decorated with fasces. The reverse shows the Latin text, alongside the source of the quote and the designer’s signature.

The Latin text is a quote from Dante’s Epistles, as the plaque indicates. The location seems to differ from modern editions (such as Angelo Jacomuzzi, Epistole in Opere minori di Dante Alighieri, vol. 2. 1986 or the edition of the Princeton Dante Project, where the passage is found in Epistles 11.22). The interpretation of caput is ambiguous. While its basic meaning is ‘head’, it also means ‘source’, ‘origin’, and ‘primary person or place’. In the original passage from Dante’s Epistles, it refers to the city of Rome: Et ad vos hec sunt maxime qui sacrum Tiberim parvuli cognovistis. Nam etsi Latiale caput pie cunctis est Ytalis diligendum tanquam comune sue civilitatis principium, vestrum iuste censetur accuratissime colere ipsum, cum sit vobis principium ipsius quoque esse (‘And this is especially a concern for you who have known the sacred Tiber as little children. For although the Latiale caput ought to be held in high esteem by all Italians as the common origin of their civilisation, it is justly held to be your duty especially to venerate it, since for you it also is your own origin’). Because the plaque does not give the preceding sentence, which clearly indicate that caput refers to the city of Rome, the word’s multiple meanings make it more ambiguous without that context.

The choice to depict Caesar rather than Dante himself is notable. This might be an attempt to make Caesar the symbol of the Latiale caput, also moving the interpretation of caput towards principal person, thereby tying Dante closer to imperial Rome. The statue shown also resembles statues that Mussolini himself gave to a number of Italian cities during the ventennio, clearly suggesting a connection between the emperor and Mussolini (e.g., Rimini, for which see Susini 2022, and Turin, the inauguration of which can be seen in the Archivio LUCE). The decision to use a quote by Dante in Latin rather than Italian is also striking and shows the symbolical importance of the Latin language during the ventennio.

Bibliography

Alighieri, Dante. 1986. ‘Epistole’. In Opere minori di Dante Alighieri, edited by Angelo Jacomuzzi. Vol. 2. Classici Italiani. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese.

Casolari, Gianfranco. 1996. 25 anni di storia: medaglie e decorazioni mussoliniane, 1922 - 1945. Tipolito Giusti. [X.99]

Gemmiti, Arturo dir. 1935. ‘L’inaugurazione delle statue di Cesare ed Augusto, dono di Mussolini alla città di Torino’. Archivio LUCE, Giornale LUCE B / B0754.

Gentilozzi, Paolo, and Sergio Piermattei. 2002. Le Medaglie del Ventennio: Catalogo alla Mostra V° convegno Filatelico Numismatico Cingoli 16 Giugno 2002. Cingoli: Circolo Filatelico Numismatico. [30]

Numismatica Italiana. “Statua di Giulio Cesare - C99”, W-ME61L/3-1.

Susini, Daniele. 2022. ‘Una statua contaminata. L’effige bronzea di Giulio Cesare a Rimini tra storia e politica’. E-Review. Rivista degli Istituti Storici dell’Emilia-Romagna in Rete 2021–2022 (8–9).

Erlend Myklebust