This short poem celebrates Benito Mussolini in four elegiac couplets. Its author, Cesare De Titta, sent an earlier version to Giovanni Gentile on 15 February 1926. As we can infer from Gentile’s reply, he personally showed the poem to Mussolini, who recommended its publication. It was published first in the journal Educazione politica, the official organ of the Istituto Fascista di Cultura, directed by Gentile. The poem was republished in De Titta (1930) and De Titta (1986: 228–229). Luigi Illuminati briefly mentioned it in his essay in memory of De Titta, published in 1935 (one year after De Titta’s death), and reprinted the poem in 1961 (Illuminati 1961: 51–62). The text below is reproduced from the 1986 edition (with slightly adapted punctuation). The English translation that accompanies the Latin text is by Paola D’Andrea.

Bibliography

Archival sources

Letter of Cesare De Titta to Giovanni Gentile, dated to 15 February 1926. Fondazione Roma Sapienza – Archivio Giovanni Gentile, s. 1 Corrispondenza, ss. 2 Lettere inviate a Gentile, De Titta Cesare, doc. 25.

Letter of Giovanni Gentile to Cesare De Titta, dated to 25 February 1926. Fondazione Roma Sapienza – Archivio Giovanni Gentile, s. 1 Corrispondenza, ss. 3 Lettere di Gentile, De Titta Cesare, doc. 14.

Latin texts

——. 1986. Carmina III. Lanciano: Itinerari.

Secondary sources

Illuminati, Luigi. 1935. ‘La poesia latina di Cesare De Titta’. In Atti del III Congresso Nazionale di Studi Romani. Vol. 4. Rome: Istituto di Studi Romani, 193–201. Reprinted in Illuminati (1961: 51–62).

——. 1961. All’Aria aperta. Appunti e discorsi. Teramo: Martelli & Falzon.

Paola D’Andrea