TEN YEARS OF FASCISM

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 15, 15 December 1932, Page 8

TEN YEARS OF FASCISM

ROME FESTIVITIES. NEW “ROAD OE THE EMPIRE.” Signor Mussolini on October 28 ushered in the eleventh year of the Fascist regime with a military review held in an architectural setting unparalleled for the magnificence ot its classical monuments and for its historical associations. The majestic highway which has been cut between the Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum has now been fully reveaied, and it well deserves that its first tittle, “The Road of the Hills,” should to-day, the anniversary of the March on Rome, have been officially changed to “The Road of the Empire” (stated a Rome correspondent of the London Times on October 28). For from the one extremity of the other are now visible many of the most famous buildings which have come down to us from the days of the Roman Republic and of the Empire. On one side lie the Forum and the Basilica of Trajan, the Forum of Augustus, and the Forum of Nerva. On the other side stand out, against the half-hidden background of the Palatine, the newly uncovered Forum of Julius Caesar, the old Roman Curia, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the vast mass of the basilica of Maxentius, and the northern apse of the Temp.e of Venus and Rome.

The mere labour of building such a thoroughfare within the space of a few months has been enormous. Hundreds of workmen have been employed working uhinterruptedly in day a.nd night shifts. Over 80,000 working days have, it is calculated, been spent upon the undertaking, and more than 300,000 cubic yards of .earth, rubble and demolished building material have been carried away. These statisticsjnay well be an understatement. Some 700 yards in. length and with a minimum breadth of 30 yards, exclusive of the gardens and spaces formed at the junction with other roads, the “Road of the Empire” has been driven deep for 200 yards clean through the slopes of the Velian Hill. Nor was that all. During the making of the road great care had to be exercised lest damage be done to ruins still buried, and thus the process of constructing the highway bad to be adapted to the constant supervision ot the archaeologists and to the refacing of the buildings which still lie between certain stretches of it and the Imperial Fora. A BRILLIANT SPECTACLE.

The review was a brilliant spectacle. The early morning .rain had cleared away, and though the sun shone but fitfully the clouds were high and allowed a clear view of the aeroplanes which roared overhead, circling round and round in 'close formation. The broad pavements on either side of the roadway were filled with dense masses of the privileged spectators officers of the armed forces of the Crown, officers of the Militia, prominent servants of the State, AVar widows and matrons. A special stand had been erected for the members of the Diplomatic Corps, and other honoured guests. Down this broad avenue the Luce rode at the head of a glittering suite. On his right was General Gazzera, the Minister of AVar, ori his left General Teruzzi, Chief of Staff of the Militia, while behind them clattered many of the leading officials of the Fascist Party and the Military Attaches ot foreign Powers. Signor Mussolini rode rapidiy up to the end of the' road by the Colosseum, and then, turning back, took up liis position almost opposite the stand of the Diplomatic Corps. As a band crashed out the notes ot “Giovinezza” the first files were, already debouching from tlie Piazza Venezia. At the head came the banners of each of the 93 legions of exService men, each banner-bearer being accompanied by three other members of the legion. Behind them came in turn detachments representative ot all the forces which Fascist Italy is training up under tlie Duce’s leadership—picked soldiers from the infantry regiments of the Army, Militiamen in charge of the ports and anti-aircraft batteries, the quick-stepping Bersaglieri, grim-looking Arditi, the boys of the Balilla. organisation, the young men of the Avanguardia, motor-cyclists, Metropolitan policemen, young Italian girls in tlieir sober black - a-iid-wnito uniforms. AVAR VETERANS. But the greatest interest and applause were reserved tor the 13,000 AA r ar-wounded Militiamen who had been specially brought together from ail parts of the country. The worst crippled were driven in large, open lorries, but the others marched by as stoutly as any of tlieir colleagues, and it was only by looking closely that one noticed here and there an empty sleeve or saw a limping step. Thus closed a pageant not unworthy of its unrivalied setting, actors and surroundings each typifying the vitality of the Eternal City. For if the new “Road of the Empire” lias linked Republican and Imperial Rose with Modern Rome as capital of reunited Italy, so, too, the tramp of the scarred AVar veterans marched beside the soldiers of to-day and the boys and girls who are to serve their country to-morrow is no less a link between the past and the future which still awaits Italy under her Duce.