Mussolini had the weirdest gestures in his speeches, but on the facade of his HQ building a giant effigy of Mussolini’s face takes the cake for weird. Outside his official headquarters building, known as the Palazzo Braschi building in Rome in 1934, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had an effigy of his face created and hung along the front of the building. Along with this weird as hell face, Mussolini had the words “Si”, “yes” in Italian, cover the rest of the face of the building.
It’s believed that fascist architecture of this time period took decisive cues from Roman times. Consider the Roman eagle that was central to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party symbol. The idea was that the size and granjure of the architecture inspired compliance through intimidation in the hearts of those who viewed them.
Mussolini’s Palazzo Braschi Face Effigy
Benito Mussolini viewed the Italian response to the World War One era Treaty of Versailles as a dismal sign of weakness. Ho Chi Minh also felt this way, viewing the Vietnamese as an exploited group by foreign powers.
Mussolini’s response, much akin to Adolf Hitler’s in Germany, was to display magnificent displays of his fascist party’s symbols all throughout the capital.
These symbols were proudly displayed to enforce compliance iwth the National Fascist Party. They seem excessive, but they had a purpose. So then why a giant Mussolini face on the Palazzo Braschi building in Rome in 1934?
Benito Mussolini wanted to encourage all voters in the March 1934 Italian General Election to vote “Si”. Something like 15,000 votes for “No” still went in.
1934 General Election
By the start of the 1934 Italian General Election in late March, Benito Mussolini was the only legally permitted candidate by the National Fascist Party (NFP). They actually bothered allowing voting ,most likely to root out dissenters.
Voters simply folded and submitted their choice, which was “yes” or “no”, and placed the rest of the ballot in the trash.
This was the last election under the Mussolini regime. The giant effigy of Mussolini’s face was one way to encourage the public to strongly consider only voting “yes”. The vote was really over “do you agree with the list of appointed members picked by the Grand National Council of Fascism?”
So that’s the “yes” ballot. Take a look now at the “no”.
Notice how this one, the one no one was supposed to cast, is extraordinarily blank and devoid of any patriotic symbols? Again this is how Mussolini expressed the attitude of his regime through a flamboyant display of party symbolism and yes, his face covering the entire facade of buildings.
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