Sicily - part eight

Taormina’s Anglican church and poppies lead nicely into a very brief discussion of Sicily under fascism and Canada’s role in ending it.

Mussolini took power in the 1920s …

 … and much constructed during the fascist era remains.

Among the more interesting is Trapani’s somewhat eccentric 1927 Palazzo delle Poste E Telecomunicazioni.

It combines elements of art nouveau and modernism with stylized aerials and insulators heralding an exciting new world of ever faster communications. 

Fascism coincided with a movement called Futurismo or futurism, which, among other things, emphasized modernity and technological progress.

In this 1932 painting by futurist artist Tullio Crali such advances are celebrated with aerial bombardment. This as Italy consolidated and expanded its empire in places such as Libya and, later, Ethiopia.

Which brings to mind Mussolini’s son’s notorious comment after the 1936 bombing of Adwa (Adowa) in Ethiopia. By comparison with the Italians, the Ethiopians were poorly armed with few defences against attack from the air. Aviator Vittorio Mussolini gloried in virtually unopposed slaughter:

‘I still remember the effect I produced on a small group of Galla tribesmen massed around a man in black clothes. I dropped an aerial torpedo right in the middle, and the group opened up like a rose. It was most entertaining’. (Flights Over the Amba Mountains 1937)

Palermo’s post office, a rationalist building, is typical of the fascist years. 

Confronted with the power of the state (and party) man is insignificant (see figure at the base of one of the columns). If I have to mail a letter, I'd prefer the somewhat quirky, less intimidating Trapani post office.

 

My personal architectural preference is streamlined and here’s Marsala’s 1930s Cine Impero (Empire Cinema). With substantial pillars yes, but stylish curves, and I do like, for lack of a better word, the cinema name's 1930s ‘font’.

Altho’ the Cine Impero survived war (turning the tables the Allies heavily bombed Marsala in 1943), Mussolini’s empire did not. In the Sicilian port city of Messina, a German army road sign and portrait of Mussolini riddled with bullets were evidence of German and Italian defeat. 

However, the buildings, such as Messina’s 1940 Casa Littorio lived on. This was once the home of the local fascist party.

During a visit in 2015, I was astonished to find a fascist slogan still prominent on the building's wall: ’To dare, to last, to win’.

Not only that, but fascist sculptures were still there.

Admittedly, one figure’s head had been obliterated, but his companions, imbued with fascist spirit, marched on.

My surprise a decade ago was equalled this year in Aci Castello on Sicily’s east coast. A helpful person pointed out more Fascist-era evidence two floors above an inviting café.

Fading, but some still clear:

'The Italian people have grown the empire with their blood' (Mussolini)

In Germany - even with the rise of the far right - similar obvious reminders of Nazi rule would be quickly removed. Why, 80 years after utter defeat, is this not so in Italy? I have no answer. 

____________________

Although our onetime enemies, I do have time for (some) Italian war memorials, such as this in Taormina’s Villa Comunale, ironically a public garden given to the town by a 19th century English aristocrat. 

It's a World War Two Italian manned torpedo. 

A reminder that, despite the Allies often disparaging Italian wartime efforts, many Italians exhibited great courage in defence of an appalling regime. With such torpedos, in 1941 the Italians badly damaged two Royal Navy battleships, the Queen Elizabeth and Valiant in Alexandria harbour. 

____________________

As mentioned in an earlier post, some 26,000 Canadians, along with the British and Americans, successfully invaded Sicily in 1943. 562 Canadians died on the island with many more to be killed after landing on the Italian mainland. 

I couldn't reach the main Canadian cemetery well inland. However, I was able to visit the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in coastal Syracuse.

A cemetery gardener showed the way to the Canadian graves …

… among them something I’d not seen before, the remains of two Canadians in one grave, their headstone immediately abutting that of a British soldier.

A Toronto friend, who volunteers for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, says in 1960 the three were moved to the Syracuse cemetery from where they’d been found:

 

“The original graves registration report states that all three were killed on 10 July 1943 and they seem to be treated as killed together … If the burials had been found today, they might have been able to use DNA to identify the Canadians. There were obviously enough clues to identify them as Canadian, probably uniquely Canadian equipment or uniform … that they had been buried almost 20 years made it hard to identify them.”

Equally poignant is this headstone - Canadian? British? Perhaps even German or Italian? Soldier? Civilian? A victim of war only ‘Known into God’.

 

In Palermo’s large Anglican church - legacy of empire ... 

... I found a memorial to Toronto’s 48th Highlander, ‘Faithful Forever’.

And back home, close to Toronto City Hall, I often pass this unusual memorial with its evocation of a battle-scarred Italian town.

A plaque reads ‘The Italian-Canadian Community dedicates this memorial to the more than 93,000 Canadians who took part in the Italian Campaign of World War II. We admire them, we are grateful to them, we honour them’.