The honorary citizenship conferred to Benito Mussolini by many Italian municipalities
in the early 1920s has recently become a subject of discussion at local and national level. The article summarizes the main aspects of this discussion. Moreover, it attempts to explore the historical genesis of Mussolini’s citizenships, outlining the motivations which lay behind them, and highlighting their role in the construction of the new regime as well as in the building of the dictator’s personality cult.
