Page 138 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

and Dogliani 1999; Gentile 1994, 38–49). The attacks from the sea or to control possible unrest
metamorphosis of the new state was supposed and rebellions in what was then the monarchy’s
to reflect the glory days of the Roman Empire, largest port, completely lost its original purpose
which would have developed Italian society ac- in the post-war landscape urbanism. While the
cording to the model of a new avant-garde civili- old building provided an excellent foundation
sation of global status (Klabjan 2017). According for the new structure, the choice of location was
to Mussolini, architecture had great importance primarily symbolic and can be interpreted as the
in this transformation, especially as a medium submission of a defeated Austria to a victorious
of the regime – a handy tool in the hands of the Italy (Salimbeni 2001, 139–143). The lighthouse
politics of the time (Nicoloso 2008). The build- has two other important symbolic elements – a
ings constructed as a direct consequence of the statue of winged victory on the top and, at the
Great War had to embody the dominant narra- base, the anchor of the Italian battleship Audace,
138 tive, creating and maintaining a national con- which was the first Italian ship to arrive in the
sciousness that was crucial in the construction port of Trieste on 3 November 1918. In combi-
of a commemorative iconography. National- nation, they give symbolic meaning to a build- ti
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 11 (2023), številka 2 / volume 11 (2023), number 2
ist groups, local committees, veterans’ organisa- ing that had no practical value, as the port of
tions, the army, families, and local and state in- Trieste already had a functioning lighthouse
stitutions in the northern Adriatic region were (Collotti 2000, 33–61). Symbolically, the Victo-
based on irredentist tendencies, displaying im- ry Lighthouse should be a tribute to all fallen ta
ages of the fallen or of so-called martyrs who Italian sailors, including Nazario Sauro. Howev-
fought for the redemption of the ‘unredeemed er, the figure of the executed sailor Nazario Sau-
lands’. The transformation of the towns and cit- ro already served this purpose when the founda-
ies, beginning with Trieste, did not only mean tion stone for the monument was laid in Koper
the removal of ‘Austrian’ symbols and chang- in 1926. The fusion of the two symbols of victo- di
es in street names but was a much more radical ry and sacrifice would not lead to the desired na-
process that changed the appearance and trans- tional cohesion that could be based on the his-
formed the very identity of the cities in the long torical experience of the Great War.
term (Klabjan 2017). A complex visual trans- In Trieste, there is also a monument to fall-
formation that transcended the local charac- en Italian soldiers on San Giusto Hill. The sym-
ter – with the city of Trieste taking most cred- bolism of this site is not accidental, as it rep-
it for this – sought to acquire a new role in the resents anachronistic historical continuity here
Italian state. The new urban image of Trieste, re- between the remains from Roman times and
moved from the Habsburg monarchy, had to re- the later cathedral as a symbol of Christianity,
flect dynamism, new forces and intellect (Can- and the medieval fortress, which testifies to the
ali 2018, 251–335). A concrete example was the city’s autonomy from Habsburg rule onwards.
erection of the ‘Victory Lighthouse’ (Faro della Not only Trieste, but the whole of the Julian
Vittoria) on 24 May 1927 – the 12th anniversa- March was strongly subject to the erection of
ry of Italy’s entry into the war. The idea of erect- similar symbols. An example is the monument
ing a lighthouse had already emerged in irreden- to Dante Alighieri erected in Tolmin at the end
tist circles at the end of October 1918, as a result of the 1920s, a small regional centre in the upper
of the euphoria following the victory at the Pi- Primorska region, which was a step away from
ave River. With some modifications to the origi- commemorative buildings dedicated to wartime
nal plan, work finally started in January 1923 on events. At the request of the Tolmin fascist or- studiauniversitatis
the site where the Austrian fortress of Kressich ganisation, the city of Florence donated a bronze
(built in 1854) once stood. A military installa- bust of the poet Dante Alighieri, the work of the
tion, intended to protect the city from possible sculptor Moschi. The statue was unveiled on 9