{"id":1,"featured":0,"modified":"2024-12-09 03:42:06","latitude":41.91946395305552641730173490941524505615234375,"longitude":12.4417966604232805849505894002504646778106689453125,"title":"A Domenico","address":"","thumbnail":"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/square_thumbnails\/11aed89abe9243f54e2305aa8efe880e.jpg","creator":["Nihil Est Superius"],"description":"

O<\/span>n February 2, 2018, Domenico Maria Dorsa \u2013 a young member of the far-right groups Nihil Est Superius (Nothing Is Superior, NES) and Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy<\/a>, FdI) \u2013 passed away following a car accident on the northern stretches of Rome's Great Ring Junction (GRJ) \u2013 a motorway which encircles the city's outermost stretches (Nozzoli 2018<\/a>). 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<\/a>. In the days following Dorsa's accident, Giorgia Meloni \u2013 the founder and President of FdI \u2013 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<\/a>).

While not associated in any way with political violence, as had been the case with many of Cold War Italy's far-right \"martyrs<\/a>\" during the Years of Lead<\/a> (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<\/a> and Della Vittoria<\/a> neighborhoods, with a handful of them appearing as far away as Nomentano<\/a> and Trieste<\/a> 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<\/i> trilogy:

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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<\/a>).<\/blockquote>\r\n

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<\/a>). To many in post-World War II Italy's neo-fascist community, the Shire \u2013 the Hobbits' quasi-utopian homeland in Tolkien's stories \u2013 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 \u2013 \"A Domenico\" (To Domenico) \u2013 is seen alongside NES' neo-classical logo. The poster\u2019s Art Deco-inspired san-serif lettering is typical of neo-fascist visual culture.

In addition to this poster, which continues to be disseminated throughout Rome every January and February, NES sponsored a \"Concert in Domenico's Memory<\/a>\" in February 2019.<\/p>","sponsor":"","subtitle":"(To Domenico)","accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":[],"files":{"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/fullsize\/11aed89abe9243f54e2305aa8efe880e.jpg":{"id":1,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"A Domenico","thumbnail":"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/square_thumbnails\/11aed89abe9243f54e2305aa8efe880e.jpg","description":"This poster was produced by Nothing Is Superior to commemorate Domenico Maria Dorsa, a member of various far-right groups, following his fatal car accident near Rome's Great Ring Junction in February 2018. Distributed largely in the city's Trionfale and Della Vittoria neighborhoods, it features a campfire symbolizing Fascism's myth of national rebirth, paired with a quote from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, evoking the neo-fascist nostalgia for an idealized ethno-nationalist community. | Photograph by Brian J Griffith (December 28, 2020)."},"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/fullsize\/ed6e3b9179ec31b555a363760d749905.jpg":{"id":74,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Fig. 1","thumbnail":"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/square_thumbnails\/ed6e3b9179ec31b555a363760d749905.jpg","description":"National Youth \u2013 one of the Brothers of Italy's two far-right youth groups \u2013 commemorates the sudden passing of Domenico Maria Dorsa just four days after his fatal car accident on Rome's Great Ring Junction via their Instagram account. | Captions: \"Love and courage undoubtedly change history\" (left<\/em>); \"Goodbye Dom[inic]\" (right<\/em>). | Giovent\u00f9 Nazionale, \"Ciao Domenico<\/a>,\" Instagram<\/em> (February 6, 2018)."},"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/fullsize\/e4ea173abf99820da0925ca24fcbff7e.jpg":{"id":75,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Fig. 2","thumbnail":"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/square_thumbnails\/e4ea173abf99820da0925ca24fcbff7e.jpg","description":"A photograph of a make-shift memorial for Domenico Maria Dorsa by members of Nothing Is Superior on their Instagram account. | Caption: "There is only one way to never die, and that way is to truly live!" | Nihil Est Superius, \"A Dom<\/a>,\" Instagram<\/em> (January 31, 2019)."},"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/fullsize\/303619c7386a1d598afebd9ff9f47c4d.jpg":{"id":76,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Fig. 3","thumbnail":"https:\/\/wheremonstersareborn.com\/files\/square_thumbnails\/303619c7386a1d598afebd9ff9f47c4d.jpg","description":"Nothing Is Superior commemorates the first anniversary of Domenico Maria Dorsa's fatal car accident via their Instagram account. | Caption: "Goodbye Domenic." | Nihil Est Superius, \"Ciao Domenico<\/a>,\" Instagram<\/em> (February 3, 2019)."}}}