The Metropole/Colony: Africa and Italy exhibition

The key goals of Italy’s Fascist Empire are narrated in the Metropole/Colony exhibition through the organization and relationship between its pieces. It becomes clear that Italian Fascists were trying to normalize the addition of Ethiopia to metropolitan Italy and to reassure its natives of their patriotism. As a small partition wall overviews what the exhibition is about, it stands next to a table that holds maps and pictures of EUR and Addis-Abeba to describe the Fascist’s aspirations for Italy’s new Imperial cities, which functions as an introduction to the following peripheral pieces. From there, the exhibition’s layout can be divided into two parts.

The Fascist’s attempt to normalize the integration of its West African colonies through the use of tourism, new technology, and relationships between this new technology and old historic architecture are displayed towards the front of the exhibition, on either side of the entrance. To the right of the entrance, the theme of relating new technology with old historic architecture is presented with the Foro Mussolini being displayed in a series of white and black photographs to show its ancient roots in the new buildings. Above, there are paintings of aircrafts above cities, which can be identified by its iconic structure, to depict new airplane technology in relationship to old historic architecture. Addis-Ababa is drawn next Rome’s Colosseum to aid its integration to metropolitan Italy by relating it to these other important Italian monuments. To the left of the entrance, the theme of tourism is presented again with the use of new technology in transportation shown as tourism propaganda depicting the colonies as destinations for leisure to facilitate their integration into metropolitan Italy. 

Continuing into the exhibition, along the right side wall, a more intimate side is shown, describing Fascist Italy’s efforts to remind its natives of their patriotism and involving them with Fascists’ accomplishments through media. Two tables along the wall display media illustrating the Fascist government’s rapid development of agriculture and industry in books and postcards. Above the tables are two posters promoting sugar production in the colonies as a patriotic duty. Another poster follows, promoting the use of radios to allow for communication from the colonies. A third table follows the previous two, showing Fascist involvement in Italian daily life, like games, teaching children to feel “invested in military conquest.” Italians’ strong patriotism is symbolized in a steel ring that was given for donations of gold wedding bands to help the government’s war efforts. Italian immigrants in the America’s show “pride in Italy’s recent accomplishments” as a book and case and postcards shown adjacent to the right wall.  Finally, the back wall of the exhibition speaks about the importance of grain agriculture in the colonies by calling for unemployed Italians’ patriotic duty to work at the colonies as farmers. Two plates with illustrations about the importance of grain agriculture continue to display how this patriotism affected Italian households.