This banner was created between 1939 and 1940 as a gift from the University of Padua to the newly founded University of Trieste. The initiative is associated with the speech delivered by Benito Mussolini in Trieste on 18 September 1938, in which he announces the creation of a new university in Trieste and states that the University of Padua, historically the only university in the Venetian area, would donate the banner to the new sister institution (Susmel and Susmel 1959: 144–47). The solemn ceremony of presenting the banner, after various delays, was held on 10 November 1940, in the presence of, among others, the Minister of National Education Giuseppe Bottai (1895–1959) and Carlo Anti (1889–1961), the Rector of the University of Padua, who coordinated the efforts for the banner’s creation.

Measuring 2.20 meters in height and 1.10 meters in width, the banner was crafted from silk by Countess Pia di Valmarana (1902–1996) and her team of artisan embroiderers, following a design by the famous architect and designer Gio Ponti (1891–1979). Embroidered with gold and silver thread on a red background, the upper portion of the front side features the words Universitas studiorum Tergestina, beneath which is depicted Saint Justus, the patron saint of Trieste, holding the palm of martyrdom in one hand and a model of the university building in the other. On either side of the saint are the coats of arms of Trieste (appearing twice), Istria, Gorizia, Fiume, and Zara, while beneath the saint’s feet tis a depiction of the city of Trieste. The composition is completed at the bottom by three fasces.

The banner’s reverse side features the Latin text embroidered in capital letters, punctuated at two points by three fasces. The texts echoes Mussolini’s 1938 speech and proclaims that the ancient University of Padua is delighted to donate the banner to its new sister in Trieste. The author of the text is Concetto Marchesi (Ventura 1992: 161), to whom Carlo Anti  entrusted its composition. Extensive documentation regarding this episode is preserved at the Historical Archive of the University of Padua (Archivio del Novecento, Atti del Rettorato 1940, busta 378, cartella 14 «Gonfalone Univ. Trieste»). In a letter from Gio Ponti dated 21 January 1939, in which the architect requests the inscription for the banner, Anti notes by hand: ‘avrei bisogno di parlare con il prof. Marchesi’ (‘I would need to speak with Professor Marchesi’).

The correspondence between Anti and Marchesi reveals details about the composition of the Latin text. In February, Marchesi produced several versions for Anti. The first version read: Benitus Mussolini die ……. / Sancti Iusti Civitatis / “Studium generale” condendum / edixit // Patavina Universitas, antiqua doctrinarum mater, / laetans gratulans / Vexillum dedit // sub quo / in extremo Italiae firmissimo propugnacolo / Tergestina iuventus / armorum animorumque viribus sociatis / domi bellique / gentis nostrae sanguinem, ingenium, voluntatem / denuntiet (‘Benito Mussolini, on …, ordered the foundation of the University of the city of Saint Justus. The University of Padua, ancient mother of the sciences, joyfully and gratefully presented this banner, under which the youth of Trieste¾at this most steadfast bulwark on Italy’s border¾by uniting strength of arms and spirit, in both peace and war, may demonstrate the blood, genius, and will of our people’).

A second shorter version altered the final part: Quod [sc. vexillum] Tergestinae iuventuti / fulgens sit Fortitudinis / sine qua / nulla est pax, nullum gaudium, nullus honos (‘may this [scil. banner] be for the youth of Trieste a shining symbol of strength, without which there is no peace, no joy, no honour’). In the autograph manuscript, Marchesi noted at the bottom: ‘Preferisco questa: è più breve e incisiva, come si conviene a un gonfalone: la parola Fortitudo compendia l’ardire, la costanza e la forza’ (‘I prefer this one: it is shorter and more incisive, as befits a banner: the word Fortitudo encapsulates boldness, perseverance, and strength’). However, on 12 February, Marchesi wrote to Anti proposing yet another version of the text, in which the ending was modified once more: ‘Ho voluto specificare il fatto della romanità, della fortezza romana, e finire con le memorabili parole di Sallustio a proposito dell’impero di Roma. Quelle parole si adattano benissimo, anzi soprattutto ai nostri tempi’ (‘I wanted to specify the aspect of Roman spirit and strength, and to conclude with the memorable words of Sallust regarding the Roman Empire. Those words fit perfectly, indeed especially, for our times’) (cf. Ventura 2013: 1345).

The final words are drawn from Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae 53.4 (divitias paupertas, multitudinem paucitas superaret), a passage where Sallust speaks of how the Romans, originally poor and few, managed to prevail over wealthy and numerous enemies such as Carthage and the Hellenistic kingdoms. In the same way, the banner was now meant to be a symbol of this Roman virtue for the youth of Trieste (Canfora 2019: 262–63, 269). The reuse of Sallust’s words resonates with Fascist propaganda against plutocracies, a sentiment particularly significant at the onset of the Second World War. When the banner text was composed, Marchesi was working on a commentary on the Bellum Catilinae, which was published in June 1939.

In a typewritten copy of the second version of the text, the last two lines (sine qua / nulla est pax, nullum gaudium, nullus honos) were boxed and crossed out, and replaced in pen with qua divitias paupertas multitudinem paucitas superavit. At the top of the sheet, there is a handwritten note: ‘ricopiare’ (‘copy out’). Additionally, there are several flimsies with the University of Padua’s letterhead, in which the new text was typewritten; in these versions, the word fulgens appears instead of Romanae (in one of them, fulgens is crossed out by hand and Romanae is written above it). A letter from Anti to Ponti, dated 15 February 1939, confirms that the Latin text for the back of the banner was provided to the architect.

The text of the banner’s inscription was also published in several Italian newspapers at the time, appearing in articles that announced the upcoming handover ceremony in Trieste: first in December 1939, when the event seemed imminent, and then again in November 1940. However, the text published in the newspapers almost always differs from the final version embroidered on the banner; it features the variant fulgens instead of Romanae and is often accompanied by an Italian translation that reflects this version. The Italian translation (possibly by Marchesi) can be considered an authorized translation by the University of Padua, as it was circulated to the press: Il 18 settembre 1938-XVI Benito Mussolini stabilì che fosse costituito lo Studio generale della città di S. Giusto. L’Università di Padova, madre antica di ogni scienza, rallegrandosi e congratulandosi offrì questo vessillo perché sia alla gioventù triestina segnacolo splendido con il quale la povertà vinse sempre le ricchezze, il poco numero la moltitudine. Several typewritten sheets with this translation are found among the archival documents.

In a handwritten letter on a letterhead of the University of Padua’s Department of Classical Philology, dated 12 November (1940?) and likely addressed to some University Administration office, Marchesi points out the fulgens/Romanae error and offers his own translation of the final part of the text: ‘offrì questo vessillo che alla gioventù triestina sia segnacolo di quel Romano valore onde la povertà vinse la ricchezza e i pochi vinsero i molti’ ([the University of Padua] ‘offered this banner so that for the youth of Trieste it may be a symbol of that Roman virtue by which poverty overcame wealth and the few overcame the many’). A flimsy from the University of Padua, dated 13 November 1940 and probably intended for the press (‘L’esatta dedica del gonfalone dell’Università di Trieste’, or ‘The exact dedication of the banner of the University of Trieste’), identifies the error and provides the corrected version, quoting the exact passage and the translation included in Marchesi’s letter of 12 November. Nonetheless, the fulgens variant still appeared in the University of Padua’s Yearbook for the academic year 1941–1942, which also included a report, in the Chronicle section, on the donation ceremony held on 10 November 1940 (Anonymous 1942: 107–108).

Bibliography

Archival sources

Various letters, handwritten and typewritten sheets, newspaper cuttings. Archivio storico dell’Università degli Studi di Padova – Archivio del Novecento, Atti del Rettorato 1940, busta 378, cartella 14 «Gonfalone Univ. Trieste».

Anonymous. 1942. R. Università degli Studi di Padova. Annuario per l’Anno Accademico 1941-42 DCCXX dalla fondazione XX dalla restituzione dei fasci. Padova: Tipografia del Seminario di Padova: 107–108.

Botteri, Guido-Viezzoli, Giampiero (eds.). 1997. L’Università di Trieste. Settant’anni di storia. 1924-1994. Trieste: Editoriale Libraria.

Canfora, Luciano. 2019. Il Sovversivo. Concetto Marchesi e il comunismo italiano. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 261–271.

Susmel, Edoardo-Susmel, Duilio (eds.). 1959. Opera Omnia di Benito Mussolini, vol. XXIX. Firenze: La Fenice, 144–47.

Ventura, Angelo. 1992. ‘Carlo Anti rettore magnifico e la sua università’. In Carlo Anti. Giornate di studio nel centenario della nascita. Verona, Padova, Venezia 6-8 marzo 1990, 155–222. Trieste: Lint, 175.

———. 2013. ‘Concetto Marchesi, l’Università di Padova e la Resistenza’. In L’indagine e La Rima. Scritti per Lorenzo Braccesi, Vol. 2. Roma: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 1344–1345.

Lorenzo Di Simone