The Building that Says No to the New Plaque for Giacomo Matteotti, Killed 100 Years ago During the Fascist Regime of Mussolini
A) "The word fascist divides." Talking like this is the majority of people who live in that nice palazzo in Via Pisanelli 40, in the bourgeois aera of Flaminio in Rome (more informations about the area here: www.wantedinrome.com/area/flaminio). The discussion is about the building where Giacomo Matteotti lived when he was killed by the fascists in 1924. Culture Councillor of the city of Rome and book author Miguel Gotor is ready to reduce the size of the inscription in order to have it accepted. The majority of the tenants in that building wants exactly that: "There is already the old slab, by writing who killed him we risk vandalism".
It is the condominium of discord over the memory of Giacomo Matteotti, divided between the "yes" and the "no" camps. The decision on whether or not to accept a second plaque to be placed on the building where the socialist deputy lived, now hangs on an agreement on the size of the inscription that could come between the city council and the condominiums. The city, in a letter dated 27th of April this year, asked for a binding opinion from the tenants to affix the plaque to mark the centenary of the assassination of Giacomo Matteotti, who was kidnapped and killed on 10th of June 1924.
To date, the vote is deadlocked on the „no“ vote by the majority of tenants. The case, reported by the press, has sparked controversy in the stately palace comprising thirteen flats with Art Nouveau windows, stuccoes and frescoes. The crux of the quarrel is over the sentence on the rejected plaque recalling that Matteotti was killed "at the hands of the fascists", but the size of the marble slab, described as "too bulky", is also a factor.
Next to the door of the five-storey building there is already a plaque donated by architect Paolo Marocchi, owner of a penthouse on the fifth floor. It was put up 15 years ago. It says that Matteotti lived in that building and on 10th of June 1924 „went to his death“. This is however wwithout even mentioning the fascist instigator.
One person declared: „We don't want the new one, it is vulgar. I did not want to write on the slab that Matteotti was killed by Mussolini's assassins because there is a fear that neo-fascists might deface or destroy it.“
Another tenant, however, points out: „But in this way it seems that Matteotti was the victim of an accident and not of a vile and horrible act.“
Miguel Gotor says: „The rules are clear as it is a private space: The condominiums have veto power. If the reason for the refusal is that our plaque would be more impactful than the one that is there, we would ask the condominium for further reflection. It is the centenary year of Matteotti's death and it would be important for there to be an official plaque from the municipality to commemorate him. If the problem is the size of the plaque, the Campidoglio is absolutely willing to think about a smaller one.“
B) The Italian Enciclopedia Treccani writes about Matteotti: „Italian politician (Fratta Polesine 1885 – Rome 1924). Several times a member of parliament, he was secretary of the „United Socialist Party“ (1922). A convinced anti-fascist, he was murdered following his denunciation of the fraud committed by fascists during the 1924 elections. His assassination was the prodrome of the suppression of the parliamentary regime.
Life and activities: Trained as a lawyer, from 1910 he devoted himself almost exclusively to political activity in the reformist current of the „Socialist Party“. In Polesine he worked for the establishment of chambers of labour and cooperatives and for the increase of socialist activity in local authorities.
Opposed to intervention, in the post-war period after World War 1 he was a provincial councillor in Rovigo in north Italy and leader of the „League of Socialist Municipalities“, and was among the organisers of the labour struggles for the placement and taxation of labour. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1919, 1921 and 1924. As a parliamentarian, he supported agrarian reform and anti-protectionist polemics.
On the 30th of May 1924, at the reopening of the Chamber, he gave his famous speach denouncing the violence and fraud committed by the fascists in the recent electoral campaign. Attacked and kidnapped the following 10th June by fascist hit men, his body was found two months later. His death, whose responsibility, at least politically, was clearly attributable to Mussolini himself. The assassins were brought finally to justice in 1926, and sentenced only to nominal punishments and soon released. After the war and the end of the fascist regime, they were sentenced in 1947 to harsher punishments.“
C) What will the neo-fascist government of Italy under Giorgia Meloni do during the festivities of the 100th year of killing Matteotti?