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!

Nome di Battaglia (Battle Name)

In the autumn of ’43, a Jewish youth fled from Milano with his parents and sister and arrived at Lago d’Orta among partisans led by Filippo Maria Beltrami. The youth, who had just turned 18, introduced himself, “My name is Guido. We are Jewish. We arrived yesterday.” Guido continues: “From this introduction, it is certain, my name da partigiano was derived: Guido l’Ebreo.” At first, he was offended that the partisans would refer to him in much the same way as had the fascists. But before long he discovered that virtually no one among the partisans used his or her real first name, let alone surname, for obvious reasons. The simple act of calling out to one’s buddy during an action, using his real name, would put his family in danger.

The “birth” of a partisan and the leaving behind (for the most part) of community and family, happened via a rite of assimilation into this new world during which the recruit took a new identity; a nome di battaglia. At times imposed, but more often freely chosen, battle names served to seal away one’s real identity and to fulfill specific cultural and symbolic functions. These names often evoked thoughts of a new and fantastic universe where anything might be possible, a remarkable feat for people who had spent 20 years, often their entire life, under the boot of Fascism.

A few interesting statistics regarding the battle names of some 64,000 Piemontese partisans whose nomi di battaglia are known:

• The 13 most popular names were typical Italian given names. The English given name Tom was 14th, Lupo (wolf) 15th, and Fulmine (lightning) came in at 16th.
• Around 25% used their own given name (including diminutives) or a nickname.
• Other names arose from literature, history, popular culture (especially American culture), and from animals.
• Duplicate names were often handled by sequential numeration (Beppe II, Romeo XIV, etc.).

Names were also taken from words in the local dialect, from everyday expressions and exclamations, from foods, and from personal traits (real, imagined, hoped for, or downright satirical). One garibaldino operating in the vicinity of Lago Maggiore, described as tall, with a large forehead, bushy eyebrows, crooked teeth, and a long scar on one cheek was given the name “Frankenstein.”

Vocabolario III (Vocabulary 3)

One of the camerati asked for an audio pronunciation guide for the military vocabulary words that I posted last June...

Enjoy - <<Castoro>>