Il Piccolo
- Hon. Mussolini back in Rome
- Hon. Federzoni to Fiume
- Italian buses for Leningrad
This partial reading of Il Piccolo for 14 October 1926 covers three short wire reports. From Rome, the paper described Mussolini's late-night return by special train from Forlì and listed the ministers, undersecretaries, party chiefs and police officials who met him at the station before he drove to Villa Torlonia. A second Rome item reported that a delegation from Fiume, including Host Venturi, had conferred with ministers and invited Interior Minister Federzoni to the city's 4 November Victory commemoration, an invitation he gladly accepted. A Moscow dispatch said the Leningrad Soviet was negotiating to buy buses from a large Italian car maker that had offered favourable credit terms.
This reading covers three excerpts from a partially legible page. Each excerpt begins or ends with fragments of neighbouring items: the King's audience with Cardinal Maffi, a comment on British industry, and the heading on the transport confederation statute. These fragments are translated as they stand. The edges of the left and right tiles are torn or cut off, and library stamps cover parts of the masthead. The supplied OCR was unreliable, so the excerpts were transcribed from the images. This reading does not establish whether Federzoni actually travelled to Fiume on 4 November, or which Italian firm negotiated with Leningrad.
Translation
Hon. Mussolini back in Rome
ROME, 13 — The Head of Government returned to Rome from Forlì by special train at 11:30 p.m. Waiting to receive him at the station were the Minister of the Interior, H.E. Federzoni; H.E. Suardo, Undersecretary to the Presidency and for Corporations; H.E. Grandi, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs; H.E. Teruzzi, Undersecretary for the Interior; H.E. Balbo, Undersecretary for the National Economy; the secretary general of the P.N.F., the Hon. Turati; the director general of Public Security, Grand Officer Bocchini; the chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior, Grand Officer Gasperini; the Prefect and the Questore. H.E. the Prime Minister went straight by car to Villa Torlonia.
Cardinal Maffi received by the King
Hon. Federzoni to Fiume
…accompanied by his secretaries, Mons. Calandra and Modena, and kept him in cordial conversation for about an hour. His Majesty then received the Rector Magnificus of the University, Prof. Aducco, whom he asked for news of the University.
Hon. Federzoni to Fiume for the celebration of Victory
ROME, 13 — A commission from Fiume, made up of Sen. Quartieri, the prefect, Host Venturi and Bacich, arrived in Rome this morning. The delegation conferred with various ministers, among them the Minister of the Interior. La Tribuna adds that today the delegation invited the Hon. Federzoni to go to Fiume on 4 November for the commemoration of Victory, and that the minister replied that he gladly accepted the invitation.
The statute of the Confederation of Land Transport and Inland Navigation
ROME, 13
Italian buses for Leningrad
…a new flourishing is not to be expected unless British industry first sets about closing its ranks and organizing itself into strong cartels, following the example of other nations.
Italian buses for Leningrad
MOSCOW, 13 — The Leningrad Soviet has entered into negotiations with the recently arrived representatives of a large Italian automobile firm, with a view to buying buses for the city of Leningrad. The firm has agreed to grant advantageous credit terms.
Context
The regime's inner circle at the Rome station
The paper's list of officials who met Mussolini's special train amounts to a roll call of the people holding power in mid-October 1926. Luigi Federzoni, named first as Minister of the Interior, was one of the founders of the Nationalist movement that later identified itself with Fascism, and he served as interior minister from 1924 to 1926, so the report shows him in the last stretch of that tenure. Augusto Turati, listed as the party's secretary general, led the National Fascist Party from 1926 to 1930 and helped consolidate Mussolini's rule. According to the paper, the director general of Public Security, the prefect and the questore stood alongside the ministers and party leaders, so the party, the government and the police chiefs all turned out together for the head of government's late-night arrival.
A quiet return weeks before the 1926 crackdown
The report records only the late arrival and the drive to Villa Torlonia, without explaining the trip to Forlì. The calm it describes came shortly before a sharp turn in the regime's politics. Mussolini faced three assassination attempts in 1926 alone. One of them came at Halloween that year in Bologna, when a 15-year-old anarchist, Anteo Zamboni, fired at him. The regime used the shooting as a pretext for a raft of repressive legislation, including the creation of a secret police and the dissolution of the political opposition. The return reported here therefore took place only weeks before the repressive measures that followed the shooting.
Who the Fiume delegation was, and why it invited Federzoni
The paper names Senator Quartieri, the prefect, Host Venturi and Bacich as the Fiume commission. Giovanni Host-Venturi was born in Fiume when the city belonged to Austria-Hungary, and as an Italian irredentist he was instrumental in organising Gabriele D'Annunzio's Fiume enterprise. From 15 November 1925 to 24 May 1928 he was secretary of the Fascist Federation of Fiume, so the delegation that came to Rome included the head of the city's party organisation. The minister they invited, Federzoni, was one of the founders of the Nationalist movement and had published a book titled La Dalmazia che aspetta in 1915. In asking him to the Victory commemoration, the Fiume delegation turned to a nationalist politician who had written about the eastern Adriatic.
Leningrad's bus deal and Italian–Soviet trade
The Moscow dispatch identifies the seller only as a large Italian automobile firm. The deal it describes fits a commercial channel that already existed despite the ideological gulf between Fascism and Bolshevism. Italy and the Soviet Union had kept contacts since signing a trade agreement on 26 December 1921, and they established full diplomatic relations on 7 February 1924, making Fascist Italy one of the first Western nations to recognise the Soviet Union. An Italian maker offering credit to the Leningrad Soviet in 1926 therefore operated within an established trading relationship. Later, on 6 May 1933, the two countries signed an economic pact supporting industrialisation, and at that time the Soviet side was interested in Italian innovations in the aviation, automobile and naval industries.
Original
L'on. Mussolini tornato a Roma
L'on. Mussolini tornato a Roma ROMA, 13 Con treno speciale alle 23. 30 ha fatto ritorno in Roma da Forlì il Capo del Governo. A riceverlo alla stazione si trovavano il ministro dell'Interno S. E. Federzoni, S. E. Suardo sottosegretario alla Presidenza e alle Corporazioni, S. E. Grandi sottosegretario agli Esteri, S. E. Teruzzi sottosegretario agli Interni, S. E. Balbo sottosegretario all'Economia nazionale, il segretario generale del P. N. F. on. Turati, il direttore generale della P. S. gr. uff. Bocchini, il capo di gabinetto del ministro dell'Interno gr. uff. Gasperini, il Prefetto e il Questore. S. E. il Primo ministro si è subito recato in automobile a villa Torlonia. Il card. Maffi ricevuto dal Re
L'on. Federzoni a Fiume
gnato dai segretari mons. Calandra e Modena, e lo ha intrattenuto in cordiale colloquio circa un'ora. S. M. ha poi ricevuto il rettore magnifico dell'Università, prof. Aducco, al quale ha domandato notizie dell'Università. L'on. Federzoni a Fiume per la celebrazione della Vittoria ROMA, 13 E ' giunta stamane a Roma una commissione di Fiume, formata dal sen. Quartieri, dal prefetto, da Host Venturi e da Bacich. La rappresentanza ha conferito con vari ministri, tra cui quello dell'Interno. La Tribuna aggiunge che la rappresentanza ha oggi invitato l'on. Federzoni perche voglia recarsi a Fiume il giorno 4 novembre, per la commemorazione della Vittoria, e che il ministro ha risposto di accettare di buon grado l'invito. Lo statuto della Confederazione dei trasporti terrestri e della navigazione interna ROMA, 13
Autobus italiani per Leningrado
nuovo rifiorire non è da attendersi, se prima l'industria inglese non penserà a serrare le proprie file e a organizzarsi in forti cartelli secondo l'esempio di altre nazioni. Autobus italiani per Leningrado MOSCA, 13 Il Soviet di Leningrado è entrato in trattative con i rappresentanti giunti recentemente di una grande casa italiana di automobili, allo scopo di acquistare gli autobus per la città di Leningrado. La casa ha consentito ad accordare vantaggiose condizioni di credito.
Source: Source: Internet Archive