This comprehensive collection of chapters provides a nuanced and multifaceted analysis of the global impact of the March on Rome, offering valuable insights into the spread and adaptation of Fascist ideologies in different cultural and political contexts beyond Italy in the 1920s and 1930s.
The chapters seek to contextualise the transformation of political cultures in 1920s Europe and provide a better understanding of the reasons for Fascism's success in the interwar world. By exploring these diverse perspectives and experiences, the book sheds light on the complex processes of ideological transfer, adaptation, and resistance that characterised the global reception of Fascism in the wake of the March on Rome. It underscores the importance of considering local contexts, transnational networks, and individual actors in tracing the trajectory of Fascist influence across Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the United States.
This book will appeal to an academic and scholarly audience at many levels, particularly in undergraduate and postgraduate courses on Italian and European history. Its accessible engagement of the broader issue of fascism and its transnational spread will also be of interest to a general readership interested in the history of Europe during the interwar period.
Giulia Albanese is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Padua. Her research interests have focused primarily on fascism and authoritarian cultures. Among her works are The March on Rome: Violence and the Rise of Italian Fascism (2019) and Rethinking the History of Italian Fascism (2022).
Filippo Focardi is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Padua. His research interests include the memory of Fascism and the Second World War in Italy and the politics of the memory of the European Union. Among his recent publications is The Bad German and the Good Italian: Removing the Guilt of the Second World War (2023).
Matteo Millan is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Padua. His research interests include the history of Fascist squadrismo, armed associations, gun control, and gun cultures in modern Europe. His recent publications include The Blackshirts' Dictatorship: Armed Squads, Political Violence, and the Consolidation of Mussolini’s Regime (2022) and the article “Belle Époque in Arms?” (2021).
Marco Mondini is Associate Professor of History of Conflicts at the University of Padua and Co-Director of the Centre International de Recherche sur la Guerre in Péronne. Among his recent publications are The Generalissimo: Luigi Cadorna and the Italian Army (2025) and Il ritorno della guerra (2024).
