When Italian fascism went swimming!

This pool is part of a sports complex once known as the Forum of Mussolini but now named the Foro Italico. It is located in northern Rome and per its Wikipedia entry was constructed in 1928 as ordered by the fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. (AKA: il Duce, baby!)

According to the blog, "eternally-cool-dot-net":

The Forum [of Mussolini] was intended to celebrate sport and strenuous physical exercise. Fascist leaders like to picture their regime as a youthful one. After all, the fascist humn was “Giovinezza” (”Youth”), and not only Mussolini but a number of party leaders often had themselves photographed in various sporting poses. Some leaped over drawn bayonets or through burning hoops to demonstrate their physical fitness and personal courage. “Physical culture,” as the Fascists like to call it, was an important aspect of the regime’s ideology. ..." [Link]


You can tell these individuals featured in the mosaics are good swimmers; Is that Ian Thorpe on the right? ;-)

I originally found this entry at Notcot.org