D’ANNUNZIO IN FIUME ‘AGAINST ALL ODDS AND ALL COMERS’
On 12 September 1919 Gabriele D’Annunzio, led a force of 2,500 volunteers into Fiume in what became known as the ‘Ronchi march’ (Ronchi in the province of Friuli was where the march had started), without meeting resistance from the English, French and American forces who had been occupying the town since the end of the First World War.
We must remember that after the war and the Paris Peace Conference with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Italy was annexed the territories of Trento and Trieste but not the town of Fiume, despite the fact that most of the town’s population was Italian, due to opposition from the US president Woodrow Wilson who, bolstered by the French government, was more inclined to annex the town to the new Yugoslavian state. In 1918, the Italian National Council of Fiume, led by Antonio Grossich a surgeon with an Italian irredentist stance, was favourable to annexation to Italy. In this complex political situation both in Italy and abroad, nationalists began talking about a ‘mutilated victory’ when referring to territories like Fiume which had not been annexed to Italy, territories they considered to be Italian to all effects and purposes.
At the time Gabriele D’Annunzio was quite a famous poet and man of letters also outside Italy’s borders, and in an Italy spent after the war and in turmoil he’d never made a secret of the fact that he also had marked political ambitions. As mentioned by Piero Chiara in his successful biography of D’Annunzio, called the Vate in the period between the end of the war and Mussolini’s march on Rome, many saw D’Annunzio as a potential leader who could have turned the Italy of that time torn by internal conflict and growing popular discontent into a country worthy once more of international respect and dignity.
What happened in Fiume therefore occurred at a time of great patriotic fervour, and the poet gave voice to his words in a series of strongly nationalistic speeches in major Italian towns and cities. Much of 1919 was spent preparing for Fiume, with the aid of a closely-woven network. It all came to a head on 12 September when he entered the town, welcomed by the cheers of the crowd and his volunteers, to proclaim the annexation of Fiume to the Kingdom of Italy. In august 1920 D’Annunzio established the Regency of Carnaro as a self-proclaimed state, remaining in power until December: in the same year the Italian Armed Forces, under orders from Giovanni Giolitti’s government which had signed the Treaty of Rapallo declaring Fiume independent according to a regime also accepted by Yugoslavia with elections to be held to elect a constituent assembly, after giving D’Annunzio an ultimatum, proceeded to take the town by force from the poet and his legionnaires. The fighting lasted for five days from 24 to 29 December 1920, days which D’Annunzio called ‘Bloody Christmas’. It cost the lives of many servicemen, civilians and legionnaires, and marked the end of the poet’s enterprise.
Last 11/12 December, Bolaffi presented at auction some stamps from this period, of great interest to collectors. There was an envelope with two stamps dating back to the occupation of Fiume, one of which was 15 c. with a portrait of the poet in the centre, both of which were cancelled by D’Annunzio’s signature. The stamps had been applied using sealing wax on note paper headed Hic manebimus optime with a note by D’Annunzio dated ‘21 January 1920’ and signed ‘The Commander of Fiume’: “The stamp with my military portrait … is unique. It was sold for 50,000 lire, which went to the children of Fiume, and it never went into production, as I’ve approved other ones with my portrait done by Guido Marussig.” At the auction the starting price of the stamp was 2,000 euros, but it sold for 8,400.
Another rare item sold at the auction was a “Fiume Star” gold medal which was awarded by the poet to Fiume legionnaires and supporters of the cause. The medal in the auctioneer’s catalogue came with a letter from D’Annunzio paying his respects to the woman it was awarded to, and sold at the auction for 2,400 euros. Four important manuscripts again dating back to the period of the occupation were sold at the autographs and rare books auction held in Milan on 16/17 December, raising over 33,000 euros. There were three signed drafts of proclamations dating back to that crucial year 1920 entitled respectively We would die for our faith, To us! and To the Italians. The latter, in particular, written on Christmas Eve 1920, is one of D’Annunzio’s most vehement pieces, overflowing with emotion after the Italian forces had attacked the town on the Adriatic sea, and opens with the famous first lines which would paint the backdrop for the tragic epilogue: “A crime has been committed. The earth of Fiume is soaked with the blood of your brothers.” It’s a tragic contrast to the optimism of another proclamation, dated 16 May 1920, intended to rouse the spirits of the mob in the Fenice Theatre, his famous speech: “To whom strength? To us! To whom perseverance? To us! To whom loyalty? To us! To whom victory? To us! Against all odds and all comers, Alala!”
There was also a long letter from the poet to General Badoglio with a desperate plea to “resolve the Adriatic problem.” This document should have been given directly to Badoglio by Tommaso Antongini, who was Gabriele D’Annunzio’s secretary, at the 1920 Italo-Yugoslavian conference of Pallanza, but he never had the chance as talks at the conference broke down without warning. A vivid and incandescent testimony of one of Italy’s most fervent times, these documents help us live once more those days of glory and tragedy when it seemed history was being written day-by-day, if not hour-by-hour.
By Alberto Ponti
We must remember that after the war and the Paris Peace Conference with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Italy was annexed the territories of Trento and Trieste but not the town of Fiume, despite the fact that most of the town’s population was Italian, due to opposition from the US president Woodrow Wilson who, bolstered by the French government, was more inclined to annex the town to the new Yugoslavian state. In 1918, the Italian National Council of Fiume, led by Antonio Grossich a surgeon with an Italian irredentist stance, was favourable to annexation to Italy. In this complex political situation both in Italy and abroad, nationalists began talking about a ‘mutilated victory’ when referring to territories like Fiume which had not been annexed to Italy, territories they considered to be Italian to all effects and purposes.
At the time Gabriele D’Annunzio was quite a famous poet and man of letters also outside Italy’s borders, and in an Italy spent after the war and in turmoil he’d never made a secret of the fact that he also had marked political ambitions. As mentioned by Piero Chiara in his successful biography of D’Annunzio, called the Vate in the period between the end of the war and Mussolini’s march on Rome, many saw D’Annunzio as a potential leader who could have turned the Italy of that time torn by internal conflict and growing popular discontent into a country worthy once more of international respect and dignity.
What happened in Fiume therefore occurred at a time of great patriotic fervour, and the poet gave voice to his words in a series of strongly nationalistic speeches in major Italian towns and cities. Much of 1919 was spent preparing for Fiume, with the aid of a closely-woven network. It all came to a head on 12 September when he entered the town, welcomed by the cheers of the crowd and his volunteers, to proclaim the annexation of Fiume to the Kingdom of Italy. In august 1920 D’Annunzio established the Regency of Carnaro as a self-proclaimed state, remaining in power until December: in the same year the Italian Armed Forces, under orders from Giovanni Giolitti’s government which had signed the Treaty of Rapallo declaring Fiume independent according to a regime also accepted by Yugoslavia with elections to be held to elect a constituent assembly, after giving D’Annunzio an ultimatum, proceeded to take the town by force from the poet and his legionnaires. The fighting lasted for five days from 24 to 29 December 1920, days which D’Annunzio called ‘Bloody Christmas’. It cost the lives of many servicemen, civilians and legionnaires, and marked the end of the poet’s enterprise.
Last 11/12 December, Bolaffi presented at auction some stamps from this period, of great interest to collectors. There was an envelope with two stamps dating back to the occupation of Fiume, one of which was 15 c. with a portrait of the poet in the centre, both of which were cancelled by D’Annunzio’s signature. The stamps had been applied using sealing wax on note paper headed Hic manebimus optime with a note by D’Annunzio dated ‘21 January 1920’ and signed ‘The Commander of Fiume’: “The stamp with my military portrait … is unique. It was sold for 50,000 lire, which went to the children of Fiume, and it never went into production, as I’ve approved other ones with my portrait done by Guido Marussig.” At the auction the starting price of the stamp was 2,000 euros, but it sold for 8,400.
Another rare item sold at the auction was a “Fiume Star” gold medal which was awarded by the poet to Fiume legionnaires and supporters of the cause. The medal in the auctioneer’s catalogue came with a letter from D’Annunzio paying his respects to the woman it was awarded to, and sold at the auction for 2,400 euros. Four important manuscripts again dating back to the period of the occupation were sold at the autographs and rare books auction held in Milan on 16/17 December, raising over 33,000 euros. There were three signed drafts of proclamations dating back to that crucial year 1920 entitled respectively We would die for our faith, To us! and To the Italians. The latter, in particular, written on Christmas Eve 1920, is one of D’Annunzio’s most vehement pieces, overflowing with emotion after the Italian forces had attacked the town on the Adriatic sea, and opens with the famous first lines which would paint the backdrop for the tragic epilogue: “A crime has been committed. The earth of Fiume is soaked with the blood of your brothers.” It’s a tragic contrast to the optimism of another proclamation, dated 16 May 1920, intended to rouse the spirits of the mob in the Fenice Theatre, his famous speech: “To whom strength? To us! To whom perseverance? To us! To whom loyalty? To us! To whom victory? To us! Against all odds and all comers, Alala!”
There was also a long letter from the poet to General Badoglio with a desperate plea to “resolve the Adriatic problem.” This document should have been given directly to Badoglio by Tommaso Antongini, who was Gabriele D’Annunzio’s secretary, at the 1920 Italo-Yugoslavian conference of Pallanza, but he never had the chance as talks at the conference broke down without warning. A vivid and incandescent testimony of one of Italy’s most fervent times, these documents help us live once more those days of glory and tragedy when it seemed history was being written day-by-day, if not hour-by-hour.
By Alberto Ponti