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Kingdom of Italy - Ministerial Flags (1923-1945)

Last modified: 2002-11-30 by dov gutterman
Keywords: italy | italia | world war ii | prime minister | fasces | fascist |
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Prime Minister and Chief of Government's Flag


by Santiago Dotor, 31 March 2000

Benito Mussolini had a blue flag with the fasces on it as his personal flag of office.
Giuseppe Bottasini, 10 January 1997

I don't believe the "Tricolor" ever had the "fasces". But, the personal flag of Benito Mussolini did have the "fasces". His flag was royal blue with a square golden-yellow band around the "fasces" in the center of the flag.
C. E. Baldwin , 13 November 1998

Was this flag the personal flag of Mussolini, his flag as the head of the fascist party, or...? I seem to recall that Mussolini kept the forms of the pre-fascist Italian Kingdom's govt. alive, i.e. formally he was just Prime Minister, rather than holding a new office created for himself . SO is this the PM's flag?
Joshua Fruhlinger, 13 November 1998

I have no answer to your question as to whether or not this was used as the PM's flag. According to my notes, Dr. Whitney Smith identified it as the personal flag of Mussolini. I no longer have the source [book] but I strongly believe that it was the FTAAATW, 1975 edition, and if I can read my notes correctly it was on page 145. Many others probably have some better references.
C. E. Baldwin , 13 November 1998

Your reference is correct! Smith describes it "As Italian head of government, Benito Mussolini displayed a distinctive personal flag."
Kevin McNamara, 14 November 1998

This is just about that. But Mussolini was called the "il Duce" (the Guide), which Hitler copied later when becoming "der Führer" (exact translation of Duce). Whether "Duce" is a distinct office to PM I don't know, maybe "Duce" is only the office of head of Fascist Party. AFAIK, he was "elected" by a Fascist congress, which was a separate body. Was it part of the State ?
Pierre Gay, 14 November 1998

'Il Duce' is better translated 'the leader,' coming from the Latin word 'dux' which means 'leader.' 'Il Duce' was merely a title for Mussolini and not a term for his office nor for the head of the Fascit Party.
Michael W. Moss, 4 Febuary 2000

The Kingdom of Italy was not dispanded until after the war (after a referendum in 1946), in fact Mussolini was fired by king Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (with support from the Fascist Grand Council!) Mussolini was "only" a PM.
Marcus Wendel, 7 August 1999

From page 68 of [zna99] :
The flag of Italian prime minister from 1927-1944 (position held by Benito Mussolini) is shown there. Regarding the flag details - the fasces are shown in three slightly different redention - in [zna99] and on FOTW by Marcus Wendel and by Bonn Robert. Any idea what is the closest match?
Zeljko Heimer, 27 March 2000

Even though the flag was only used by Mussolini, and might go on to be used by him as president of the Repubblica Sociale Italiana, it was the flag of the Prime Minister of (Fascist) Italy and not the personal flag of Mussolini. Very similar flags were used by the Ministers and Subsecretaries (white fasces with blue ribbons on white flag with/without blue fimbriation), except those of the Navy (crown over foul anchor replacing fasces) and Air (crown over Air Force emblem replacing fasces, colours changed to 'Air Force' blue and red) Ministries.
Bonn Robert's image is very close to the one in Smith FTAAATW 1975, but this is only halfway close to the original, as it appears in Flaggenbuch 1939 [neu92], which I guess is quite a realible source particularly in this case. In Flaggenbuch the fasces is shown from a side not in perspective; the ribbons are white and equally spaced horizontal-slant-horizontal-slant; the blade is larger, more curved and with a wide "edge", and surrounds a small lion's head addorsed to the fasces' body. By the way, Flaggenbuch names the flag "Flagge des Ministerpr?sidenten und Ches der Regierung" i.e. "Flag of the Prime Minister and Chief of Government".
I have made the above image of the flag following the details and measurements in [neu92]:

Ratio: 2:3
Width of the outer blue border: 1/10th hoist
Width of the inner yellow fimbriation: 1/20th hoist
Height of the fasces: 3/5ths hoist
Width of the fasces (including blade): 1/4th hoist
Colours of the fasces: yellow except for white ribbons and black edge of blade

Santiago Dotor, 31 March 2000


State Minister's Flag, except Navy and Air Ministers


by Santiago Dotor, 31 March 2000


State Subsecretary's Flag, except Navy and Air Subsecretaries



by Santiago Dotor, 31 March 2000


More Fascist Italy Symbols

Here is the fasces (the symbol of Partito Nazionale Fascista)
Marcus Wendel, 7 August 1999

I have Mussolini's party flag.  It came from his desk in 1944 in Rome.  He did not let his party fly it at the last meeting in 1942.  This is because he new they were voting him out of power. .  I think the flag says GH. F. MACAO  FASATTI
Timothy Gaines, 25 October 1999

Researching information on the flags of Fascist Italy I found this realistic image of a fasces (with a weird double axe attached): <www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Images/FRY64.html>
and more flag-related, this poster of the 1939 XIII Tripoli "International - Intercolonial" Exhibition, with contemporary flags: <www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Images/FRY04.html>.
Santiago Dotor, 31 March 2000

Fascist Confederation of Industrials

I have a large Italian  flag/banner.On one side is written "Federazione Nazionale fascista degli Istituti Privati' and on the bottom, "Educazione e Istruzione."  In the middle is the fasces with an eagle coming out of an embroidered emblem, with"Confederazione fasciata degli Industrali" printed. The other side is the tricolore and two fasces similar to the illustrations
by Santiago Dotor  with a white cross in the middle bordered by red and blue. Seems to me this might be some trade union/association and/or ministerial flag relating to private schools/education in fascist Italy.
Jerry Carbone, 12 November 2002

I know nothing about this flag, but the italian inscriptions mean:
- "National fascist federation of private institutes"
- "Education and instruction"
- "Fascist Confederation of Industrials"

These three inscriptions seem to be somewhat contradictory to eachother, but in general apparently indicate that this flag represents some top-level businessman's organization (and not trade-union) in fascist Italy...
Jorge Candeias, 13 November 2002

Not exactly "businessman's organization," at least not as the term is understood now, but part of the state-sponsored and -directed framework for managing the command economy. Benito Mussolini organized the economy of Fascist Italy according to what was known as a corporative model.  The following is the theory of how it was supposed to work.  The entire economy was subdivided into 22 sectors, each of which was managed by a "corporation."  The corporation was made up of representation from ownership/management, labor, government, and the Fascist party.
Ownership/management interests were represented by in the corporation structure by 22 corresponding "confederations."  There were also confederations of workers in various sectors, but I'm not sure that the labor confederations matched up exactly with the alignment of the corporations; there may have been some overlap on the labor side.
I recall that a "federation" was a subset of a "confederation."  Thus, within the confederation of industrialists, there might have been a federation of ferrous metals, or chemicals, or whatever. 
Joe McMillan, 13 November 2002






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