The Tremors of Fiume and the Shadow of D'Annunzio

"Perhaps the most eloquent tribute that could be paid him was the great respect and fear demonstrated by Mussolini in the years following the Fiume adventure... Everyone from Mussolini to Premier Franceso Saverio Nitti realized that D'Annunzio could have led a successful march on Rome during his reign at Fiume..."

- Michael A. Ledeen, 'The First Duce'

Roses May Bloom from the Blood

"I drink to the roses which will flower from the blood." 

- Gabriele D'Annunzio, at a gathering in Venice in 1895

Gabriele D'Annunzio in a speech to soldiers in 1915

A Remark from Mussolini on D'Annunzio's Fiume

Under the Fiume standard: Soldiers of D'Annunzio's Fiume.

"We don't know what Nitti's government is thinking. All we can say is that, if necessary, thousands of volunteers - the best of Italy's youth - will be with D'Annunzio."

- Mussolini's "Long Live Fiume!," in Il Popolo d'Italia

From "Fiume Under D'Annunzio" in MacLean's Magazine

"It is a great mistake to underrate D’Annunzio. This mari is a real force, not only by what he has been in the past, but by what he is, and stands for, to-day. No one did more to bring Italy into the war, and some of his speeches then, like his Fiume orations now, will endure as long as the Italian language. He fought on land, at sea, and in the air. He was severely wounded, and even after the loss of his right eye he remained in the fight. He has always dreamed of a greater Italy, supreme in the Adriatic and extending its influence over the Balkans. He is quite sure that Italy has been robbed of the spoils of victory by the “ingratitude and egotism” of the Allies, and he is just as ready to give his life now for what he believes to be his country’s due as he was to die for her in battle."

- from "Fiume Under D'Annunzio" in MacLean's Magazine, 1 Dec. 1920