On February 2, 2018, Domenico Maria Dorsa – a young member of the far-right groups Nihil Est Superius (Nothing Is Superior, NES) and Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy, FdI) – passed away following a car accident on the northern stretches of Rome's Great Ring Junction (GRJ) – a motorway which encircles the city's outermost stretches (Nozzoli 2018). Dorsa had been a passenger in a vehicle which suddenly lost control, veered off of the road, and smashed into a tree near the GRJ's Via Salaria offramp. In the days following Dorsa's accident, Giorgia Meloni – the founder and President of FdI – issued a public statement via her Facebook account, lamenting the former's passing: "In this moment of sorrow," Meloni wrote, "our condolences and sympathies [vicinanza] go to Domenico's family and all those who knew him" (Meloni 2018).
While not associated in any way with political violence, as had been the case with many of Cold War Italy's far-right "martyrs" during the Years of Lead (1968-82), the anniversary of Dorsa's passing was quickly transformed into a neo-fascist-style commemoration by his former "comrades" within Rome's far-right community (Figs. 1 and 2).
This poster, which was produced by NES, was disseminated primarily in Rome's Trionfale and Della Vittoria neighborhoods, with a handful of them appearing as far away as Nomentano and Trieste on the other side of the city. Accompanied by a picturesque photograph of a burning campfire at dawn, symbolizing Fascism's myth of national rebirth, the poster features a well-known quote from Chapter 6 of "The Return of the King," the third volume in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy:
Out of doubt, out of dark, to the day's rising he rode singing in the sun, sword unsheathing. Hope he rekindled, and in hope he ended; over death, over dread, over doom lifted out of loss, out of life, unto long glory (Tolkien 2004: 976).
The Tolkien quote is an indirect reference to the influence of the Movimento Sociale Italiano's (Italian Social Movement) so-called "Hobbit Camps," which took place throughout Italy during the 1970s and 80s (Last 2017). To many in post-World War II Italy's neo-fascist community, the Shire – the Hobbits' quasi-utopian homeland in Tolkien's stories – represented the ideal ethno-nationalist community, unsullied by the purportedly "degenerative" influences of industrial modernity. Beneath the campfire and the Tolkien quote, a salute to Dorsa – "A Domenico" (To Domenico) – is seen alongside NES' neo-classical logo.
In addition to this poster, which continues to be disseminated throughout Rome every January and February, NES sponsored a "Concert in Domenico's Memory" in February 2019.
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