Mussolini bas relief

"The Mussolini Bas relief" in travertine marble is 36 m long, 5,5 m high and 50 cm deep. With these dimensions it is surely the biggest bas relief in Europe. It has been sculpted on 57 plates of marble of various dimensions and disposed on two rows on the pediment of the "Casa Littoria" (house of the lictor) that was the headquarters of the fascist party. The numerous figures and details on the bas relief represent and glorify various establishments in different stages of fascism, from the victory of the first world war to the march on Rome. At the centre the dictator, Benito Mussolini, is represented like a Roman emperor on a horse with his arm out in a Roman salute. Between the horses' legs the words "Believe, Obey, Fight" are sculpted in large letters.

The bas relief was finished, but never fully assembled, during the fascist regime. Some of the central plates, post-war, were held in a safety-deposit. During the following years after the end of the war the monuments that glorified fascism were destroyed and only in 1957 during a visit from the President of the Republic the Mussolini bas relief was completed.

To date, all the attempts to destroy the Mussolini bas relief or safeguard it in a museum have failed for reasons linked to its political exploitation from the various parties and groups. A contest accepted by the South-Tyrolean government in 2011 has still not produced any results.