Life In Fascist ItalyBy: David, Nicole, Emily, Craig, Dan, Kodi, and Jane

Daily Life in Fascist Italy

• All Italians expected to obey Mussolini and Fascist Party• Had little to no rights if you did not support Mussolini and his beliefs• People expected to have specific roles in society• Work, play, rest, and worship were influenced by the Duce• Attacked cultural customs

• replacing the customary handshake with fascist salute• Substituting the informal “voi” for the polite form of Italian address “lei”• Introduced fascist calendar

• Sought to control individual movement• Gaining right to review and cancel passports• Fire on people attempting to leave the country illegally• Deny Italians of citizenship and property if they criticize the regime

Activities for Leisure in Fascist Italy

• Tourism• Promotes a new national identity

• Cinema and Theater• Before this was seen as a luxury and a very rare occasion for most of the

population but fascist government reduces price and creates discounts in order to stop social discrimination

• Radio• Mussolini increased radio subscribers from 27,000 in 1926 to 1 million by the

end of 1939• Saw as a good source to spread culture and promote Mussolini through

propaganda

The Black Shirts (The Fasci di Combattiment)• Ex-soldiers who enforced authority • Punished anyone who opposed Mussolini or Fascist Party• Common punishment was to tie the “troublemaker” to a tree, force

castor oil down their throat, and force them to eat a live toad/frog• Motto: Me ne frego (“I do not give a damn”)

Role of Women

• Mussolini had a traditional view on women• The role of young women was to get married and have children• Women were to take care of children• Women needed to have more children because population size

needed to grow

Family Size:

• Future of the fascist society were the children• Larger sized families were viewed in a positive light• Target of 5 children per family• Tax breaks were offered to large families

Education in Fascist Italy

• Mussolini saw children as the future of Fascism so he was very interested in the education system and youth organizations• Hitler took a similar approach in Germany• Children were taught that Mussolini was the only man that could lead

Italy back to greatness

Education of Boys in Fascist Italy

• Taught that fighting was a natural extension of male lifestyle• Fighting was natural• Marched and used imitation guns as children• Encouraged to attend after-school youth movements • Sons of the She Wolf (Ages 4-8)• Balila (Ages 8-14)• Avanguardista (Ages 14-18)