La Storia del Podestà (History of the Fascist Town Mayor)

Now that I've completed a replica of this Podestà uniform for the 'town battle' at the upcoming March on Rome event, it seemed appropriate to share what I know about this mayoral officer.

In 1927 the office of mayor (sindaco) was replaced by that of Podestà (magistrate, more or less). The Podestà wielded more power than a mayor as he was also a police official as well as a judge of sorts. Other than that, he was a simple functionary who was expected to act within the law and according to the directives of the national government. I'm fairly certain that Podestà was an appointed office (not elected by the people being governed).

Small communities of less than 5,000 inhabitants were the first to change over to this new municipal system. The rest of the nation soon followed, with the exception of Rome, which retained a unique form of administration headed by a governor. In addition to the Podestà, communities of more than 20,000 inhabitants were assigned a Vice Podestà and communities of more than 100,000 were authorized two.

To be appointed to either office a candidate had to meet two sets of requirements:

Generic:

• Be an Italian citizen with full civil rights.
• Be married or a widower.
• Be of good moral and political character.
• Be of Aryan descent (after 6 Oct 1938).

Specific: Hold a diploma in the classics, science, technology, law, or another field of study recognized by the Ministry of National Education.

The diploma requirement was waived for:

• Veterans of WWI who had held the rank of Ufficiale or Sottufficiale commanding troops in a zone of occupation.
• Other functionaries who had served at least six months as mayor, royal or prefect commissioner, or community secretary.

The last appointments to the position of Podestà occurred before Mussolini's 1943 ouster. However, according to Alberto Cifelli's I Prefetti del Regno nel Ventennio Fascista, a few of these officials continued to serve after the war; some were still in office well into the 1950s!