The cult of the Duce Mussolini and the Italians Edited by Stephen Gundle, Christopher Duggan and Giuliana Pieri Manchester University Press Manchester and New York distributed in the United States exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan Contents List of illustrations vii Notes on contributors ix introduction 1 Stephen Gundle, Christopher Duggan and Giuliana Pieri Part I THE ORIGINS OF A PERSONALITY CULT 1 Political cults in liberal Italy, 1861-1922 1.1 Christopher Duggan 2 The propagation of the cult of the Duce, 1925-26 27 Christopher Duggan 3 Margherita Sarfatti and the invention of the Duce 41 Simona Storchi 4 Sanity from a lunatic asylum: Ida Dalser's threat to Mussolini's image 57 Daniela Baratieri 5 Mass culture and the cult of personality 72 Stephen Gundle Part II THE DUCE AND THE FASCIST REGIME 6 A town for the cult of the Duce: Predappio as a site of pilgrimage 93 Sofia Serenelli 7 Mussolini's appearances in the regions 110 Stephen Gundle 8 The internalisation of the cult of the Duce: the evidence of diaries and letters 129 Ch ristopher Dugga n 9 Mussolini and the Italian Empire, 1935—41 144 Giuseppe Finaldi Contents Part III THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE DUCE 10 Portraits of the Duce Giuliana Pieri 11 Photographing Mussolini Alessandra Antola 12 Mussolini as monument: the equestrian statue of the Duce at the Littoriale Stadium in Bologna Simona Storchi 13 Mussolini and the city of Rome Eugene Pooley Part IV AFTER THE FALL OF FASCISM 14 The destiny of the art and artefacts Giuliana Pieri 15 The aftermath of the Mussolini cult: history, nostalgia and popular culture Stephen Gundle 16 Mussolini and post-war Italian television Vanessa Roghi Afterword R.J.B. Bosworth Index .