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Tutta brava gente

(All Good People)

By Unaffiliated or Unknown
Tutta brava gente
Tutta brava gente This sticker features the phrase "All Good People" – a common expression among the post-World War II far right, signifying the conviction that interwar Italians practiced a comparatively less deadly form of Fascism than their Axis Alliance counterparts in Nazi Germany – along with a menacing illustration of a switchblade knife. Source: Photograph by Brian J Griffith (December 28, 2020).

This sticker features the phrase "Tutta brava gente" (All Good People) along with an illustration of an automatic, or switchblade, knife. Although somewhat of a common phrase in contemporary Italy, a few clues, here, reveal the sticker's intended meanings. To begin, the sticker was recovered from a metal pole near Foro Italico (formerly Foro Mussolini) in Rome, which is not only the site of one of the largest sports complexes in Italy during Benito Mussolini's twenty-year dictatorship (1922-45) (Page 2014), it is where the city's Olympic Stadium is located (Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4). Although likely a subtle nod to the soccer fans belonging to AS Roma's so-called "Curva Sud" (Southern Curve), referring to the location in Olympic Stadium where these pro-AS Roma "Ultras" congregate (Fig. 5), the phrase is more closely associated with the widespread post-World War II attitude that interwar Italians, unlike their Axis Alliance counterparts on the other side of the Alps, were generally speaking "good people" and, therefore, practiced a comparatively less deadly form of Fascism (Fogu 2006: 147-176).

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Tutta brava gente
Tutta brava gente This sticker features the phrase "All Good People" – a common expression among the post-World War II far right, signifying the conviction that interwar Italians practiced a comparatively less deadly form of Fascism than their Axis Alliance counterparts in Nazi Germany – along with a menacing illustration of a switchblade knife. Source: Photograph by Brian J Griffith (December 28, 2020).
Fig. 1
Fig. 1 The sixty-foot tall marble obelisk with the inscription "Leader Mussolini" at the entrance of the Foro Italico (formerly Foro Mussolini) in Rome. Source: Chabe01, "Monolithe Mussolini, Rome," Wikimedia Commons (August 30, 2021).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2 The neo-classical marble statues surrounding the racetrack at the Foro Italico (formerly Foro Mussolini) in Rome. Source: "Remains of Fascism," Rome in Greek (N/D).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3 One of the neo-classical marble statues surrounding the racetrack at the Foro Italico (formerly Foro Mussolini) in Rome. Source: "Remains of Fascism," Rome in Greek (N/D).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4 The fascist-era mosaics at the Foro Italico (formerly Foro Mussolini) in Rome. | Caption: "Many enemies. Much honor." Source: indeciso42, "Mosaici al Foro Italico," Wikimedia Commons (July 13, 1988).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5 The layout for Rome's Olympic Stadium, showing the "Southern Curve" section (bottom-left) where pro-AS Roma "Ultras" congregate during soccer games. Source: "Piano dello Stadio Olimpico," Calcio Viaggi (N/D).

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Related Resources

Sources Consulted

  1. Fogu, Claudio. 2006. "Italiani brava gente: The Legacy of Fascist Historical Culture on Italian Politics of Memory." In Richard Ned Lebow, Wolf Kansteiner, and Claudio Fogu, eds., The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
  2. Page, Max. 2014. "The Roman Architecture of Mussolini, Still Standing." Boston Globe (July 13).

Citation Information

Unaffiliated or Unknown, “Tutta brava gente,” Where Monsters Are Born: Documenting a Fascist Revival in the Streets of Rome, 2018-2019, accessed October 22, 2024, https://wheremonstersareborn.com/items/show/42.

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