Restorations of Empire in Africa

Abstract This is the first full-length study to investigate the ideological uses of Roman imperialism in support of modern Italian colonialism in Africa. By taking a broad view of cultural documents from the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, this work argues that colonialism in Africa, modelled on ancient Roman imperialism, played a central role in the promotion and consolidation of the Italian project of nation-building. The work further suggests, based on this, that the phenomenon of Italian Fascist classicisms was rooted in pre-Fascist ideologies of liberal imperialism, thus contributing to a further historicization of the development of Fascism. This study, moreover, demonstrates the continued legacies of colonialism in Italy’s contemporary relationships towards Africa.