Fascist labarums stolen from Central Archives found: seized from collector

Carabinieri from the Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale found the March on Rome labarums stolen in June from the Central State Archives in Rome. The theft had been immediately reported, and the military had launched investigations coordinated by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office, made easier thanks to the fact that the entire stolen collection was inventoried (cataloging was completed in 2018). The stolen material was in the possession of a collector, from whom the objects were seized. Also seized from the man was a representative uniform of the diplomatic corps donated to the Central Archives by the heirs of Sergio Fenoaltea, a member of the National Liberation Committee, undersecretary to the Prime Minister’s Office in the Bonomi II government, and longtime ambassador of Italy (to China, Canada, Belgium, and the United States).

Even in the aftermath of the crime, the most credited hypothesis claimed that the thieves had acted to place the goods on the market for fascist memorabilia, highly sought-after items. At the moment, however, it is still unclear what the collector’s role is in the affair: investigations are ongoing and are trying to clarify all aspects of the case, from the way the labarums were stolen to the subsequent steps.

These are materials of great historical value: they are the banners that the fascists used for the march on Rome on October 28, 1922. Also in the collection are the red flags of the workers’ movements, which the fascists stole from the socialists in the Red Two Years and in the months leading up to the March on Rome, during the many squadrist assaults on the headquarters of the socialist party, opponents’ newspapers, peasant leagues and the Chambers of Labor.

This material was then displayed for the first time in 1932 at the Fascist Revolution exhibition set up on the tenth anniversary of the March on Rome, after which, in 1934, the labariums ended up in the National Gallery of Modern Art in Valle Giulia, awaiting display in a museum that was never built. The labarums were then looted and dispersed after the fall of Fascism, and various other materials (including the 1932 exhibition fund) after July 25 were transferred to Salò: the Rome and Salò funds would be reunited only at the end of the war, when all the material was transferred for preservation reasons to the then Archives of the Kingdom, which later became the Central State Archives.

Fascist labarums stolen from Central Archives found: seized from collector

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