After the March on Rome in 1922, which brought Mussolini to power, the fascistization of state institutions began on the Italian peninsula. In the Mediterranean, the first five years of the regime saw the gradual implementation of an irredentist policy aimed at restoring the Mare Nostrum of Roman times. Large structures with political, cultural, commemorative and sporting objectives, endowed with considerable financial resources and run by members of the National Fascist Party, were set up on the island to supervise and “politically educate” the Italian community. They reflected Fascism’s totalitarian determination to keep a watchful eye on the population and to use every means at its disposal to combat the gradual assimilation of Italian emigrants into the French nation.
