WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.500 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We are really 00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:04.059 glad to have you with us today because we're 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:07.160 opening a file that, honestly, it reads less 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:09.800 like a biography and more like, I don't know, 00:00:09.859 --> 00:00:12.140 a fever dream. That's a good way to put it. Right. 00:00:12.179 --> 00:00:14.300 It's like a script that was rejected by Hollywood 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:17.420 for being just too unbelievable. Yeah. If you 00:00:17.420 --> 00:00:19.379 walked into a studio and pitched a character 00:00:19.379 --> 00:00:22.760 who is all at once a world famous poet, a notorious 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:26.100 Casanova, a one -eyed fighter pilot, a war hero, 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:29.429 and then a dictator who... hijacks an entire 00:00:29.429 --> 00:00:32.969 city to run it on the principles of music, you'd 00:00:32.969 --> 00:00:34.829 be laughed out of the room. Oh, absolutely. They'd 00:00:34.829 --> 00:00:36.710 tell you to pick one, maybe two. It sounds like 00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:38.350 a composite character, doesn't it? Someone stitched 00:00:38.350 --> 00:00:40.670 together from like four or five different historical 00:00:40.670 --> 00:00:43.429 figures. But no, we are talking about just one 00:00:43.429 --> 00:00:46.409 man. Gabriella D 'Annunzio. Gabriella D 'Annunzio. 00:00:46.609 --> 00:00:48.789 Usually when we do these dives, we can sort of 00:00:48.789 --> 00:00:51.189 categorize the subject. We can say, okay, today 00:00:51.189 --> 00:00:53.210 we're looking at a politician or, you know, we're 00:00:53.210 --> 00:00:56.159 analyzing a military strategist. DiNunzio seems 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:58.299 to actively fight against being put in any kind 00:00:58.299 --> 00:01:02.340 of box. He doesn't just fight the box. He decorates 00:01:02.340 --> 00:01:05.200 it with velvet, sets it on fire, and then flies 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.579 an airplane through the smoke. I mean, to really 00:01:07.579 --> 00:01:10.480 understand the early 20th century, and I mean 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:13.840 properly understand that weird, dark, energetic 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:17.560 shift that ultimately leads to fascism, you have 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:19.819 to grapple with this man. He had all those titles 00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:21.599 too. He did, and they sound like they belong 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:23.969 in a fantasy novel, right? Prince Montenavoso, 00:01:24.049 --> 00:01:26.890 the prophet, or il profeta, and the one that 00:01:26.890 --> 00:01:30.329 stuck the most, il vatte. Il vatte. It translates 00:01:30.329 --> 00:01:32.829 to the poet, but with this added weight, like 00:01:32.829 --> 00:01:35.450 the soothsayer or the seer. The prophet. Wow. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:39.000 That takes a certain level of ego to even accept, 00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:41.219 let alone encourage. A level of ego we are going 00:01:41.219 --> 00:01:43.680 to become very familiar with. So here's our mission 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:45.620 for this deep dive. We need to connect the dots. 00:01:45.659 --> 00:01:47.719 We have to figure out how a man who starts his 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:50.420 career writing this incredibly flowery, decadent 00:01:50.420 --> 00:01:54.120 poetry about flowers and pleasure ends up seizing 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:56.760 a city by force, writing a constitution that 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:58.719 claims music is the central law of the state. 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:02.920 arguably inventing the entire visual aesthetic 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:05.359 of fascism before Mussolini even got his boots 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.819 on. It is a massive, massive trajectory. And 00:02:08.819 --> 00:02:11.020 to get us there, we've combed through a pretty 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:14.340 heavy stack of sources, historical records, biographies, 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:16.800 his own letters, political manifestos, military 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:20.080 accounts. It's a complex puzzle because you have 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:22.659 to look at three very different worlds. Right. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:25.259 First, there's the high art world of the decadent 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:28.879 movement in the late 1800s. Then the muddy, bloody 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.860 reality of the trenches in World War I. And finally, 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:34.379 this bizarre political theater he creates in 00:02:34.379 --> 00:02:36.539 the city of Fiume. Fiume is the part I'm really 00:02:36.539 --> 00:02:39.319 itching to get to. The whole idea of a poet dictator 00:02:39.319 --> 00:02:42.879 running a rogue state is just, it's completely 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:45.139 wild. It's the centerpiece. But we have to build 00:02:45.139 --> 00:02:46.900 the foundation first. We have to understand who 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:49.639 this guy was before he decided to become a warlord. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:51.740 And the enigma starts right at the beginning. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:55.099 You have to picture a man of just extreme contradictions. 00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:57.699 He was capable of writing the most delicate, 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.360 sensitive, I mean, stuff that can genuinely make 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:02.780 you weep with its beauty. And yet he possessed 00:03:02.780 --> 00:03:05.060 an appetite for violence and risk that would 00:03:05.060 --> 00:03:07.800 make a stuntman blush. Extreme sensitivity and 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:10.259 extreme violence. OK, so let's go to the beginning. 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:14.219 Pescara, Italy, 1863. Right. He's born in the 00:03:14.219 --> 00:03:17.360 Abruzzo region. His father is a man named Francesco 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:20.419 Paolo Rappagnetta, who is a very wealthy landowner 00:03:20.419 --> 00:03:23.639 and the mayor. of the town. Now, I suspect you're 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:25.580 going to bring up the name issue. I have to because 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:26.919 I was going through the notes and this story 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:29.819 just kept popping up. The legend that Denuncio 00:03:29.819 --> 00:03:33.379 is a fake name, that he was actually born Gaetano 00:03:33.379 --> 00:03:37.039 Rapagnetta and he rebranded himself. Gabriele 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:39.500 D 'Annunzio, because he thought he looked like 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:42.180 the Archangel Gabriel. A very D 'Annunzio -esque 00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:45.740 story. It is. But is there any truth to it? Because 00:03:45.740 --> 00:03:47.919 let's be honest, Rapagnetta sounds a lot less 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:50.520 heroic than D 'Annunzio. It does. And his enemies 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:52.780 love to use that against him later in life to 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:54.860 sort of mock him as this provincial upstart. 00:03:55.020 --> 00:03:57.060 But we can debunk that right now. The records 00:03:57.060 --> 00:03:59.759 are crystal clear. His birth certificate says 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.569 Gabriele D 'Annunzio. The confusion and the myth, 00:04:02.610 --> 00:04:04.870 it actually stems from his father. Ah, okay. 00:04:04.930 --> 00:04:06.770 So the father was the one who changed his name. 00:04:07.030 --> 00:04:09.750 Exactly. The father was born Francesco Paolo 00:04:09.750 --> 00:04:12.469 Rapagnetta. But when he was 13, he was adopted 00:04:12.469 --> 00:04:15.969 by a wealthy, childless uncle named Antonio D 00:04:15.969 --> 00:04:20.069 'Annunzio. So the father legally took the D 'Annunzio 00:04:20.069 --> 00:04:22.709 name decades before Gabriele was even a thought. 00:04:23.209 --> 00:04:26.029 So he really was born D 'Annunzio. He didn't 00:04:26.029 --> 00:04:28.209 invent the name to sound like an angel, even 00:04:28.209 --> 00:04:30.389 though it fit his ego perfectly. It was just 00:04:30.389 --> 00:04:33.490 a happy accident of genealogy for him. But even 00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:35.629 without a self -invented name, he was clearly 00:04:35.629 --> 00:04:38.410 a prodigy. He was sent to a really prestigious 00:04:38.410 --> 00:04:41.449 school, the Licio Cicudnini in Prado, and he 00:04:41.449 --> 00:04:44.389 published his first volume of poetry, Primovere, 00:04:44.649 --> 00:04:49.000 in 1879. And he was. What, 16? 16 years old. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:51.000 That's just, I mean, most 16 -year -olds are 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.240 worrying about acne and geometry. He's out there 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:55.420 publishing poetry collections. And not just publishing 00:04:55.420 --> 00:04:57.680 them into the void. He was incredibly savvy even 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:59.600 then. There's a famous story about how he sent 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:02.100 a letter to a newspaper pretending to be a friend, 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:04.300 announcing his own death in a horse riding accident 00:05:04.300 --> 00:05:07.420 just to generate buzz for the book. No way. He 00:05:07.420 --> 00:05:10.259 faked his own death at 16. He did. And it worked. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:11.939 People started talking about this tragic young 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:14.860 poet. And then, surprise, he's alive and has 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:17.370 a book for sale. But the real breakthrough came 00:05:17.370 --> 00:05:19.709 from a literary critic named Giuseppe Chiarini. 00:05:20.350 --> 00:05:22.850 Chiarini read this teenager's work and wrote 00:05:22.850 --> 00:05:25.250 a glowing article that hailed him as an enfant 00:05:25.250 --> 00:05:28.870 prodigy, a child prodigy. And that review, that 00:05:28.870 --> 00:05:31.329 one article, basically launched D 'Annunzio's 00:05:31.329 --> 00:05:33.689 career overnight. He knew how to work the press 00:05:33.689 --> 00:05:36.519 from day one. So he heads off to Rome to the 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:39.379 Sapienza University in 1881. And this is where 00:05:39.379 --> 00:05:41.680 the D 'Annunzio persona really starts to bake, 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:43.959 right? This is where he creates himself. Rome 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:45.839 is where he invents himself. That's the perfect 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:47.920 way to put it. He joins all the fashionable literary 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.560 groups. He writes for papers like Chronica Byzantina. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:54.439 And he adopts this very aristocratic pseudonym, 00:05:54.519 --> 00:05:56.800 Duca Minimo, the lowest duke for his journalism. 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:00.079 A bit of false modesty there. Just a bit. But 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:02.779 most importantly, he dives headfirst completely 00:06:02.779 --> 00:06:05.699 into the decadent lifestyle. Let's pause and 00:06:05.699 --> 00:06:08.060 define decadent here. Because today, when we 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:09.959 say decadent, we're usually talking about a really 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:12.439 rich chocolate cake or, you know, a spa day. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:15.279 But in late 19th century literature, it meant 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.860 something very, very specific. Very different. 00:06:17.899 --> 00:06:19.839 Yeah. You have to think of the decadent movement 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:22.860 and the aestheticism that went with it as a rebellion. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:25.339 It was a rebellion against the naturalism of 00:06:25.339 --> 00:06:27.660 the time. Naturalism was hugely popular then. 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:30.800 It was about gritty reality, scientific observation, 00:06:31.180 --> 00:06:33.800 writing about the poor, the dirt, the struggle 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:38.149 of daily life. Think Emile Zola. Okay, so naturalism 00:06:38.149 --> 00:06:41.129 is a documentary film. And decadence is what? 00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:44.550 A perfume commercial directed by a vampire. That's 00:06:44.550 --> 00:06:46.970 not far off. Decadence is a fever dream. It's 00:06:46.970 --> 00:06:49.410 all about sensation, mysticism, beauty for beauty's 00:06:49.410 --> 00:06:51.949 sake. It loves to explore the darker, more sensual, 00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:54.850 almost rotting side of human emotion. It's heavily 00:06:54.850 --> 00:06:57.689 influenced by French symbolism and British aestheticism. 00:06:57.689 --> 00:07:00.509 You know, Oscar Wilde, but maybe a bit darker, 00:07:00.610 --> 00:07:02.970 a bit more intense. So Velvet Curtain's heavy 00:07:02.970 --> 00:07:06.600 perfume, Moral Ambiguity. All of it. It's art 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:08.220 that doesn't try to teach you a lesson about 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:10.379 society. It just wants to make you feel something 00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:14.040 intense, even if that feeling is revulsion or 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:17.459 decay. Perfumed, velvet -draped fever dream. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:20.639 I like that. It's a good summary. And that is 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:24.970 Denunzio to a T. His first big novel, Il Piacere, 00:07:25.089 --> 00:07:27.490 which gets translated as The Child of Pleasure, 00:07:27.610 --> 00:07:30.910 came out in 1889 and made him a superstar. Then 00:07:30.910 --> 00:07:33.170 you get books like The Triumph of Death and The 00:07:33.170 --> 00:07:36.470 Flame of Life. He created a style that was incredibly 00:07:36.470 --> 00:07:39.129 complex, filled with archaic words he dug up, 00:07:39.149 --> 00:07:42.290 all this sensual imagery. He saw himself as resurrecting 00:07:42.290 --> 00:07:45.230 a more glorious, sensuous Italian language. And 00:07:45.230 --> 00:07:47.709 somewhere in this period, he discovers Friedrich 00:07:47.709 --> 00:07:51.430 Nietzsche, which feels like a pivotal moment. 00:07:51.709 --> 00:07:53.550 This is a crucial turning point. Now, whether 00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:55.709 he truly, deeply understood Nietzsche's philosophy 00:07:55.709 --> 00:07:57.589 or just cherry -picked the parts he liked is, 00:07:57.670 --> 00:07:59.730 well, it's a matter of debate among scholars. 00:08:00.129 --> 00:08:01.910 But he definitely liked one part. Oh, he latched 00:08:01.910 --> 00:08:03.970 onto the concept of the Uberman. The Superman. 00:08:04.350 --> 00:08:07.149 Correct. But, and it's an important but, not 00:08:07.149 --> 00:08:10.129 a guy in a cape saving cats from trees. The Nietzschean 00:08:10.129 --> 00:08:13.329 Übermensch is a being who creates his own morality, 00:08:13.550 --> 00:08:16.569 who rises above the common herd of ordinary people 00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:20.029 through sheer force of will. D 'Annunzio started 00:08:20.029 --> 00:08:23.110 to see himself and his literary characters as 00:08:23.110 --> 00:08:25.709 these supermen. You see it clearly in characters 00:08:25.709 --> 00:08:28.470 like Stelio Afrena in The Flame of Life. They 00:08:28.470 --> 00:08:31.680 are artists. geniuses beings destined to dominate 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.600 others through will through aesthetics through 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:37.059 their sheer vitality that is a very dangerous 00:08:37.059 --> 00:08:39.519 self -image to cultivate it is because if you 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:41.899 genuinely believe you are a superman and that 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:44.159 the rules of ordinary people like say paying 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:46.580 your bills or being faithful to your wife don't 00:08:46.580 --> 00:08:48.799 apply to you you're going to leave a lot of wreckage 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:51.309 in your wake And he did. His life was a trail 00:08:51.309 --> 00:08:53.350 of wreckage. He lived like a Renaissance prince, 00:08:53.450 --> 00:08:55.330 but without the bank account to back it up. He 00:08:55.330 --> 00:08:57.590 was constantly in debt. He bought castles. He 00:08:57.590 --> 00:08:59.549 had dozens of greyhounds, customized clothes, 00:08:59.730 --> 00:09:03.350 rare art. By 1910, his debts were so catastrophic 00:09:03.350 --> 00:09:05.669 that he actually had to flee Italy. Wait, he 00:09:05.669 --> 00:09:08.850 pulled a midnight run to France. Just skipped 00:09:08.850 --> 00:09:11.159 town on his creditors. He did. He went to Paris 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:14.539 to escape. But because he's D 'Annunzio, he didn't, 00:09:14.539 --> 00:09:17.600 you know, hide in some dingy attic. He immediately 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:21.159 became the toast of Parisian society. He's collaborating 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:23.620 with Claude Debussy, one of the most famous composers 00:09:23.620 --> 00:09:26.679 in the world, on a musical play called The Martyrdom 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:28.659 of Saint Sebastian. I seem to recall reading 00:09:28.659 --> 00:09:30.460 that the church wasn't a particularly big fan 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:32.700 of that one. That is the understatement of the 00:09:32.700 --> 00:09:35.340 century. The Holy See was so offended by the 00:09:35.340 --> 00:09:38.549 mix of sacred and... frankly, erotic imagery 00:09:38.549 --> 00:09:41.529 that they placed all of D 'Annunzia's works on 00:09:41.529 --> 00:09:43.929 the index of forbidden books. All of them. Every 00:09:43.929 --> 00:09:45.950 single thing he had ever written was officially 00:09:45.950 --> 00:09:48.769 banned for Catholics to read. That's almost an 00:09:48.769 --> 00:09:51.190 achievement in itself, getting your entire bibliography 00:09:51.190 --> 00:09:53.289 banned by the Pope. It's like the ultimate badge 00:09:53.289 --> 00:09:55.950 of honor for a bad boy poet. It certainly added 00:09:55.950 --> 00:09:59.389 to his mystique as this dangerous, edgy figure. 00:09:59.649 --> 00:10:02.110 And he wasn't just writing plays. He worked with 00:10:02.110 --> 00:10:04.710 the composer Pietro Moscani on an opera called 00:10:04.710 --> 00:10:07.690 Parasina. And here's a detail that just screams 00:10:07.690 --> 00:10:11.509 DiNunzio. The libretto, the lyrics he wrote for 00:10:11.509 --> 00:10:14.450 the opera, was so long and so dense that they 00:10:14.450 --> 00:10:16.649 had to cut an entire act just so the audience 00:10:16.649 --> 00:10:18.809 wouldn't, you know, fall asleep or leave before 00:10:18.809 --> 00:10:20.950 the end. He was incapable of self -editing. He 00:10:20.950 --> 00:10:22.929 loved the sound of his own voice, both on the 00:10:22.929 --> 00:10:26.220 page and off. And speaking of love, we really 00:10:26.220 --> 00:10:28.240 can't talk about the poet without talking about 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.159 the lover. He wasn't just a writer. He was arguably 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:34.799 one of the first modern celebrity tabloid stars. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:38.019 His private life was public property. His romantic 00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:41.399 life was pure performance art. He married a noblewoman, 00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:44.659 Maria Hardwin, in 1883, and they had three sons, 00:10:44.740 --> 00:10:46.580 but he was never, ever going to be a faithful 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:48.899 husband. That marriage fell apart pretty quickly. 00:10:48.940 --> 00:10:51.059 The relationship that really captivated the world 00:10:51.059 --> 00:10:53.379 was with Eleonora Deuce. And for anyone listening 00:10:53.379 --> 00:10:55.399 who might not know, Deuce wasn't just an actress. 00:10:55.480 --> 00:10:57.580 She was the actress of her time. Think Meryl 00:10:57.580 --> 00:11:00.340 Streep mixed with a global rock star? She was 00:11:00.340 --> 00:11:03.259 an international icon. famous for her naturalistic 00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:05.960 style of acting. Their affair lasted from about 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:10.100 1894 to 1910, and it was incredibly passionate, 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:14.080 public, and incredibly toxic. He wrote roles 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.279 for her, though, right? He did. He wrote plays 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:18.340 specifically for her, like La Tita Morta and 00:11:18.340 --> 00:11:20.200 Francesca da Rimini, which certainly helped her 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:23.679 career. But he also cannibalized their relationship 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:25.919 for his art. What do you mean by cannibalized? 00:11:26.019 --> 00:11:28.440 He published the novel Il Fuoco, The Flame of 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:30.960 Life, which is a fictionalized story about a 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:50.299 That is just unbelievably cool. It fits the Superman 00:11:50.299 --> 00:11:52.440 theory, though, doesn't it? My art, my genius 00:11:52.440 --> 00:11:54.120 is more important than your feelings. People 00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:56.820 are just material for the masterpiece that is 00:11:56.820 --> 00:11:59.350 my life. And Ducey wasn't the only one. There 00:11:59.350 --> 00:12:02.370 was also the Marchesa Luisa Cassati. Oh, what 00:12:02.370 --> 00:12:04.610 a character she was. A perfect match for him. 00:12:04.730 --> 00:12:07.850 She was an eccentric heiress who famously walked 00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:10.389 pet cheetahs on diamond leashes and wore live 00:12:10.389 --> 00:12:13.629 snakes as jewelry. Their affair was this turbulent 00:12:13.629 --> 00:12:16.509 on -again, off -again thing that lasted for decades. 00:12:17.230 --> 00:12:19.889 She was another one of his great muses. So it's 00:12:19.889 --> 00:12:22.470 all one big performance. His personal life, his 00:12:22.470 --> 00:12:24.950 art, the scandals, it's all part of the Denunzio 00:12:24.950 --> 00:12:27.850 brand. Exactly. So up until 1914, this is the 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:30.950 picture we have. A peacock. A brilliant, scandalous 00:12:30.950 --> 00:12:33.190 peacock writing flowery books, dating famous 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:35.309 women, running up massive debts, and living in 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:37.730 a cloud of perfume and controversy in France. 00:12:38.049 --> 00:12:40.090 If the story stopped there, he'd just be an interesting 00:12:40.090 --> 00:12:42.730 footnote in literary history. But then, World 00:12:42.730 --> 00:12:45.629 War I breaks out, and the peacock decides he's 00:12:45.629 --> 00:12:48.570 actually a hawk. The warrior poet. This transformation 00:12:48.570 --> 00:12:51.070 is what truly baffles people and what makes him 00:12:51.070 --> 00:12:54.149 so historically significant. When the war starts, 00:12:54.250 --> 00:12:57.120 D 'Annunzio returns to Italy. He completely reinvents 00:12:57.120 --> 00:12:59.100 himself as the loudest, most passionate voice 00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:01.259 for interventionism. He campaigns aggressively 00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:03.600 for Italy to abandon its neutrality and join 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:05.480 the war on the side of the triple entente Britain, 00:13:05.659 --> 00:13:08.840 France, and Russia. And he's not just giving 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:10.759 speeches from a balcony. He actually signs up 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:13.899 to fight. But he's not some young recruit, is 00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:18.220 he? No, he's 52 years old in 1915. He is well 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:21.200 past military age. He's a grandfather, for crying 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.419 out loud, but he volunteers. And he refuses to 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:26.399 sit at a desk. He wants to be on the front lines. 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:29.500 He had been fascinated by aviation since 1908. 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:31.879 He had actually flown with Wilbur Wright himself, 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:34.399 so he uses his fame and connections to get himself 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:37.139 commissioned as a fighter pilot. A 52 -year -old 00:13:37.139 --> 00:13:38.899 poet becoming a fighter pilot? It just sounds 00:13:38.899 --> 00:13:41.820 completely absurd. It was. But here's the thing. 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:45.500 He was genuinely brave. recklessly, suicidally 00:13:45.500 --> 00:13:48.080 brave, and he paid the price for it. In 1916, 00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:50.419 during a rough landing, he wasn't wearing his 00:13:50.419 --> 00:13:52.279 seatbelt properly, some sources say, because 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:54.059 he thought it ruined the line of his custom -tailored 00:13:54.059 --> 00:13:56.320 uniform, and he smashed his head against the 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.779 machine gun mount. The injury was severe. He 00:13:58.779 --> 00:14:00.539 lost the sight in his right eye permanently. 00:14:00.940 --> 00:14:02.919 This is what led to that famous period of him 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:05.159 writing in the dark, right? The book Nocturno. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:08.279 Yes. To save the sight in his remaining eye, 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:11.000 doctors ordered him to lie in total darkness 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:14.429 for months, completely immobile. During that 00:14:14.429 --> 00:14:17.649 time, he composed Nocturno, which means nocturne. 00:14:17.889 --> 00:14:20.509 He wrote it on thousands of thin strips of paper, 00:14:20.669 --> 00:14:23.529 blindly scrawling one line at a time, unable 00:14:23.529 --> 00:14:26.090 to see what he was writing. It's this haunting, 00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:29.210 fragmented book about pain, sensation, and darkness. 00:14:29.549 --> 00:14:31.509 Most people would probably call it a day after 00:14:31.509 --> 00:14:34.169 an injury like that. A 50 -something one -eyed 00:14:34.169 --> 00:14:36.429 man has earned his retirement from active duty. 00:14:36.570 --> 00:14:38.850 Not Denunzio. As soon as he could stand up, he 00:14:38.850 --> 00:14:40.889 was back in the cockpit. He learned to fly and 00:14:40.889 --> 00:14:43.350 fight with only one eye. And this brings us to 00:14:43.350 --> 00:14:45.409 the two exploits that made him an immortal legend 00:14:45.409 --> 00:14:48.330 in Italy. The first is the flight over Vienna 00:14:48.330 --> 00:14:51.750 in August 1918. I love this story because it 00:14:51.750 --> 00:14:53.809 is so uniquely, perfectly Denunzio. Paint the 00:14:53.809 --> 00:14:55.740 picture for us. Okay, so he's the commander of 00:14:55.740 --> 00:14:58.480 the 87th Fighter Squadron, which they nicknamed 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:01.039 a La Serenissima, a tribute to the old Venetian 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:04.759 Republic. He leads nine planes on this incredibly 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:08.440 dangerous 700 -mile round -trip flight over the 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:11.120 Alps to Vienna, the capital of the enemy Austro 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:13.940 -Hungarian Empire. Now, usually, when you fly 00:15:13.940 --> 00:15:16.480 over an enemy capital during a total war, you 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:18.659 drop bombs. You drop bombs. You try to destroy 00:15:18.659 --> 00:15:21.440 infrastructure, instill terror. But not him. 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:23.820 D 'Annunzio didn't drop a single explosive. He 00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:27.779 dropped paper. Propaganda leaflets. 50 ,000 of 00:15:27.779 --> 00:15:30.019 them printed in the green, white, and red of 00:15:30.019 --> 00:15:32.179 the Italian flag. Just imagine being a citizen 00:15:32.179 --> 00:15:34.320 in Vienna. You hear the air raid sirens. You 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.200 hear the engines. You look up at the sky. You 00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:39.700 brace for death. And instead, it rained poetry. 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:42.679 It was a psychological masterstroke. The leaflets 00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:45.080 basically said, we are here. We could have bombed 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:47.299 you, but we chose not to. We are artists. We 00:15:47.299 --> 00:15:49.480 are Italians. Your government can't protect you 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:52.129 from us. It was a profound humiliation for the 00:15:52.129 --> 00:15:54.629 Austrian authorities and a massive, massive morale 00:15:54.629 --> 00:15:57.690 boost back home in Italy. It was style over substance. 00:15:57.929 --> 00:16:00.789 But in a war of grinding attrition, that kind 00:16:00.789 --> 00:16:02.909 of style became substance. And then there was 00:16:02.909 --> 00:16:06.399 the Baccar mockery. What was that? The Befe di 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:08.980 Bucari. This was a bit earlier, in February 1918. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:12.860 He participates in this daring naval raid. He 00:16:12.860 --> 00:16:15.059 and two other men take three small MAS torpedo 00:16:15.059 --> 00:16:17.659 boats right into a heavily fortified Austrian 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:21.059 harbor at Bacar, militarily. It was a complete 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:22.919 failure. A failure. I thought it was a famous 00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:25.519 victory. It was a propaganda victory. In military 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.460 terms, their torpedoes got stuck in the defensive 00:16:27.460 --> 00:16:29.679 nets. They didn't manage to sink any major ships. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:33.279 But the sheer audacity of it, sailing right into 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.799 the enemy's lair. And before they left, they 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.059 dropped three sealed bottles into the harbor 00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:40.120 with mocking messages for the Austrian Navy. 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:43.179 He turned a tactical failure into another huge 00:16:43.179 --> 00:16:45.659 PR win. He really understood the power of the 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:48.080 viral moment a century before the Internet existed. 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:50.960 He was a master of it. And the military just 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.779 loaded him with medals, the gold medal of military 00:16:53.779 --> 00:16:57.230 value. which is Italy's highest award for bravery. 00:16:57.509 --> 00:17:00.250 Multiple silver medals, the Military Order of 00:17:00.250 --> 00:17:02.750 Savoy, the French Legion of Honor, the British 00:17:02.750 --> 00:17:05.769 Military Cross. The official citations talk about 00:17:05.769 --> 00:17:08.769 his youthful courage and audacious persistence. 00:17:09.250 --> 00:17:11.309 By the end of the war, he wasn't just a poet 00:17:11.309 --> 00:17:13.410 anymore. He was the most famous and decorated 00:17:13.410 --> 00:17:17.549 soldier in Italy. So November 1918, the war ends. 00:17:18.329 --> 00:17:21.009 D 'Annunzio is a national hero, a living legend, 00:17:21.190 --> 00:17:25.259 but peace. peace is boring for a superman and 00:17:25.259 --> 00:17:28.150 italy as a nation is angry This is the context 00:17:28.150 --> 00:17:30.230 we absolutely need for the next chapter for Fiume. 00:17:30.349 --> 00:17:32.569 Italy was on the winning side of the war, but 00:17:32.569 --> 00:17:34.789 the Italian people felt cheated. They called 00:17:34.789 --> 00:17:37.390 it the Vittoria Mutilata, the mutilated victory. 00:17:37.650 --> 00:17:39.650 Why mutilate? They had joined the war because 00:17:39.650 --> 00:17:41.990 the Allies in the secret Treaty of London had 00:17:41.990 --> 00:17:44.490 promised them huge chunks of territory from the 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:47.329 collapsing Austro -Hungarian Empire. But at the 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:49.190 Paris Peace Conference, President Woodrow Wilson 00:17:49.190 --> 00:17:51.670 and the others pushed back. They were all about 00:17:51.670 --> 00:17:54.009 national self -determination now and didn't want 00:17:54.009 --> 00:17:56.269 to just hand over territories with non -Italian 00:17:56.269 --> 00:17:58.740 populations. to Italy. And the flashpoint for 00:17:58.740 --> 00:18:01.099 all this anger was the city of Fiume. Correct. 00:18:01.460 --> 00:18:04.359 Fiume, which is now Rijeka in modern -day Croatia, 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:07.500 was a multicultural port city. The city center 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:09.640 itself had a majority Italian -speaking population, 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:12.180 but the surrounding suburbs and countryside were 00:18:12.180 --> 00:18:15.160 overwhelmingly Croatian. The Allies proposed 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.039 handing the city over to the new kingdom of Serbs, 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:20.680 Croats, and Slovenes, which would become Yugoslavia. 00:18:20.900 --> 00:18:23.839 And DiNunzio saw this as a betrayal. A profound 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:25.940 betrayal. He saw it as a slap in the face to 00:18:25.940 --> 00:18:28.140 the 600 ,000. and Italians who had died in the 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:30.619 war, he wasn't going to let it stand. So what 00:18:30.619 --> 00:18:33.640 does a poet warrior aviator do when he's angry 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:36.019 at a peace treaty? He doesn't just write a strongly 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:38.160 worded letter to the editor. No. In September 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:42.099 of 1919, he goes rogue. Completely rogue. He 00:18:42.099 --> 00:18:44.500 gathers a force. It starts incredibly small, 00:18:44.660 --> 00:18:48.099 about 186 grenadiers, who basically mutiny from 00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:50.700 the Italian royal army to follow him. They start 00:18:50.700 --> 00:18:53.180 to march from a town called Ronci towards Fiume. 00:18:53.660 --> 00:18:57.440 186 men. That's not an army. It's a parade. But 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:00.119 as they march, it snowballs. Soldiers desert 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:03.519 their posts to join his column. Veterans, futurist 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.319 artists, adventurers, they all flock to his banner. 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:08.680 By the time he reaches the city gates, he has 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:11.960 a force of about 2 ,500 troops, including the 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.559 elite Arditi shock troops. And what about the 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:16.980 allied forces who are occupying the city? The 00:19:16.980 --> 00:19:19.019 Americans, the British, the French? They just 00:19:19.019 --> 00:19:21.099 left. They were completely taken by surprise. 00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:23.839 The Italian general in charge of the allied contingent 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:26.619 came out to confront... Denunzio, and Denunzio 00:19:26.619 --> 00:19:29.019 just unbuttoned his coat to reveal all his war 00:19:29.019 --> 00:19:31.700 medals and said, then you will have to fire first 00:19:31.700 --> 00:19:33.859 on me. And the general backed down. He backed 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:36.900 down. The Allied forces withdrew. They didn't 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:39.079 want to start a shooting war with Italy's greatest 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:42.319 war hero over a city. Denunzio walked in and 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:44.460 took control of Fiume without firing a single 00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:47.579 shot. He hijacked a city, an entire city. He 00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:50.660 did. He declared it the Italian Regency of Carnaro, 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:53.079 and he gave himself the title of Deuce Leader. 00:19:53.470 --> 00:19:55.210 And it's really important to note, this is the 00:19:55.210 --> 00:19:57.329 first time we see that title being used in this 00:19:57.329 --> 00:20:00.569 modern, charismatic, authoritarian context, years 00:20:00.569 --> 00:20:03.109 before Mussolini. Okay, so he's the deuce of 00:20:03.109 --> 00:20:05.230 Fiume. He's now running a country. What does 00:20:05.230 --> 00:20:07.269 that actually look like? I'm guessing he wasn't 00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:09.309 spending his days focused on sanitation policy 00:20:09.309 --> 00:20:12.670 and tax codes. It was. It was the wildest political 00:20:12.670 --> 00:20:15.329 experiment of the 20th century. It lasted for 00:20:15.329 --> 00:20:18.269 about 15 months. The city became a haven for 00:20:18.269 --> 00:20:21.490 pirates, artists, rebels, futurists, anarchists, 00:20:21.490 --> 00:20:25.089 and... A lot of cocaine users. It was one long 00:20:25.089 --> 00:20:28.890 drug -fueled party. But legally, he did try to 00:20:28.890 --> 00:20:31.410 create a new order. He co -authored a constitution 00:20:31.410 --> 00:20:34.309 called the Charter of Carnaro with a radical 00:20:34.309 --> 00:20:37.529 syndicalist named Alceste Ambrose. Syndicalist. 00:20:37.529 --> 00:20:39.430 Can you just quickly unpack that for us? Sure. 00:20:39.529 --> 00:20:41.789 Syndicalism is a form of revolutionary socialism 00:20:41.789 --> 00:20:44.089 where instead of political parties running the 00:20:44.089 --> 00:20:46.630 state, society is organized by syndicates, which 00:20:46.630 --> 00:20:48.750 are basically trade unions. So the charter set 00:20:48.750 --> 00:20:50.670 up a corporatist structure where everyone belonged 00:20:50.670 --> 00:20:53.009 to one of nine corporations. based on their job. 00:20:53.089 --> 00:20:55.369 One for industrial workers, one for farmers, 00:20:55.450 --> 00:20:57.609 one for professionals, and so on. Nine corporations. 00:20:58.049 --> 00:21:00.349 But DiDenzio had a little twist, didn't he? He 00:21:00.349 --> 00:21:02.970 added his signature flourish. He created a tenth 00:21:02.970 --> 00:21:05.170 corporation. The other nine were for, you know, 00:21:05.190 --> 00:21:07.970 regular jobs. The tenth corporation had no specific 00:21:07.970 --> 00:21:11.269 members. It was reserved for superior human beings. 00:21:11.529 --> 00:21:14.069 It was for the heroes, the poets, the prophets, 00:21:14.269 --> 00:21:16.730 the supermen, and I quote, the most energetic 00:21:16.730 --> 00:21:19.410 and audacious geniuses. So there was a government 00:21:19.410 --> 00:21:21.559 department for cool people. Essentially, yes, 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:25.200 a state -sponsored club for Superman. And the 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:28.480 charter famously, bizarrely, declared that music 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:30.920 was the fundamental principle of the state. Music, 00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:34.140 not justice, not liberty, not equality. Music. 00:21:34.259 --> 00:21:36.880 Music. The idea was that the state should function 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:39.220 with the harmony and passion of a grand symphony. 00:21:39.380 --> 00:21:41.839 It was a government based on pure aesthetics. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:44.759 And his foreign policy was just as chaotic. He 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:46.579 tried to organize an anti -league of nations 00:21:46.579 --> 00:21:48.960 for all the oppressed peoples of the world. He 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:51.819 reached out to Irish separatists, Egyptian nationalists, 00:21:51.880 --> 00:21:54.180 Indians, anyone who wanted to overthrow the British 00:21:54.180 --> 00:21:56.579 or French empires. So he's an ardent Italian 00:21:56.579 --> 00:21:59.180 nationalist, but he's also trying to lead a global 00:21:59.180 --> 00:22:02.079 anti -colonial revolution. That is incredibly 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.759 inconsistent. Consistency was never... the goal. 00:22:05.339 --> 00:22:07.279 Excitement was. And this is where we have to 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:09.119 look at the very dark side of this experiment. 00:22:09.420 --> 00:22:11.500 Because while Fiume might have seemed like a 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:15.019 poetic state, it was also the laboratory of fascism. 00:22:15.660 --> 00:22:18.200 Historians often call D 'Annunzio the John the 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:21.220 Baptist of fascism. Why? What specific things 00:22:21.220 --> 00:22:23.480 did he do there that Mussolini later copied? 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.740 Almost everything visual. If you close your eyes 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:29.460 and picture a classic fascist rally, you are 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:32.059 picturing something D 'Annunzio invented in Fiume, 00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:35.000 the dramatic balcony speech. That was his signature 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:37.680 move. He would stand on a balcony and hold these 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:39.960 dialogues with the crowd below, asking them questions, 00:22:40.059 --> 00:22:42.140 getting them to roar back answers in unison. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.819 The Roman salute, the stiff raised arm. D 'Annunzio 00:22:45.819 --> 00:22:47.819 brought that back from what he believed was ancient 00:22:47.819 --> 00:22:51.140 Roman history, the black shirts. His elite Arditi 00:22:51.140 --> 00:22:53.440 shock troops wore black shirts with skull and 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:56.119 crossbones emblems. Mussolini saw how effective 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:58.279 it was and adopted that exact look for his own 00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:04.019 squads. The war cry, ea, ea, ea, ea, allah. D 00:23:04.019 --> 00:23:05.700 'Annunzio claimed he took that from the warriors 00:23:05.700 --> 00:23:08.299 in Homer's Iliad. Mussolini took it directly 00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:10.849 from D 'Annunzio. The whole call and response 00:23:10.849 --> 00:23:13.650 with the crowd. It was all pioneered in fume. 00:23:13.769 --> 00:23:15.910 And there was a specific form of torture that 00:23:15.910 --> 00:23:19.329 also began there. The castor oil. Yes. This is 00:23:19.329 --> 00:23:22.549 grim, but it's important. Denuncia's men originated 00:23:22.549 --> 00:23:24.789 the practice of forcing political dissidents 00:23:24.789 --> 00:23:27.509 and opponents to drink massive amounts of castor 00:23:27.509 --> 00:23:30.390 oil. It's a powerful, and I mean powerful, laxative. 00:23:30.609 --> 00:23:33.259 That sounds almost juvenile. But it was clearly 00:23:33.259 --> 00:23:35.839 more than just a prank. It was calculated psychological 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:38.240 humiliation. The point wasn't just to make the 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:40.480 enemy sick. It was to make them soil themselves 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:43.640 in public, to strip them of all dignity. It was 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:45.839 a way of saying you are not a political opponent 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.140 to be debated. You are a dirty object to be cleansed. 00:23:49.579 --> 00:23:52.099 Mussolini's black shirts use this tactic on a 00:23:52.099 --> 00:23:54.819 massive, brutal scale across Italy a few years 00:23:54.819 --> 00:23:57.400 later. It's terrifying to think that these things, 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:59.920 which became the hallmarks of a brutal totalitarian 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:02.819 regime, really start. in this so -called city 00:24:02.819 --> 00:24:05.420 of art. That's the entire paradox of Di Nunzio. 00:24:05.619 --> 00:24:08.380 He saw politics as a form of theater. He wanted 00:24:08.380 --> 00:24:12.339 passion, fervor, myth, beauty. Mussolini was 00:24:12.339 --> 00:24:14.480 watching from the sidelines, taking careful notes. 00:24:14.700 --> 00:24:17.460 He realized that these tools, the balcony, the 00:24:17.460 --> 00:24:19.559 chants, the uniforms, the ritualized violence, 00:24:19.859 --> 00:24:22.799 were incredibly effective technologies of power. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:25.680 Di Nunzio created the ritual. Mussolini came 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:28.200 along and built the church. So how did the party 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:30.559 in Fiume end? Did it just collapse under its 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:33.240 own chaotic weight? It ended in fratricide, really. 00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:35.640 The Italian government in Rome finally had enough. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:38.519 In late 1920, Italy signed the Treaty of Rapallo 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:40.920 with Yugoslavia, which officially settled the 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:43.500 border issues and made Fiume a free city, not 00:24:43.500 --> 00:24:46.019 part of Italy. D 'Annunzio, in his arrogance, 00:24:46.180 --> 00:24:48.319 refused to accept it. He actually declared war 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:50.259 on Italy. He declared war on his own country. 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:52.980 That's a bold move for a guy running one city. 00:24:53.140 --> 00:24:56.900 A very, very bad move. In December 1920, during 00:24:56.900 --> 00:24:59.240 what became known as the Bloody Christmas, the 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:01.619 Italian navy sailed into the harbor and bombarded 00:25:01.619 --> 00:25:04.880 Fiume. An Italian warship fired a shell that 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:07.220 actually hit Di Nunzio's palace while he was 00:25:07.220 --> 00:25:10.460 inside. After five days of fighting and dozens 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:12.779 of deaths on both sides, Di Nunzio surrendered. 00:25:13.140 --> 00:25:15.680 He drove out of the city, defeated, and the regency 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:17.680 of Carnaro was over. So the great experiment 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:19.839 failed. He gets kicked out. And now we enter 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:22.619 the final and maybe strangest phase of his life. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:24.900 The relationship with the man who would take 00:25:24.900 --> 00:25:27.940 all of his ideas and run with them. Brita Mussolini. 00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:30.519 It was a relationship defined by, I think, jealousy, 00:25:30.579 --> 00:25:33.079 admiration, and fear. You have to remember, in 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:36.680 1920, 1921, DiNunzio was still much more famous 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:38.400 and revered than Mussolini. He was the first 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:40.880 deuce. Many of the early fascists actually wanted 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:43.240 DiNunzio to lead their movement, not Mussolini. 00:25:43.549 --> 00:25:45.690 So D 'Annunzio was a potential rival, a massive 00:25:45.690 --> 00:25:47.950 threat. A massive threat. And then a very convenient 00:25:47.950 --> 00:25:51.190 event occurred. In August 1922, just a couple 00:25:51.190 --> 00:25:53.529 of months before Mussolini's march on Rome, the 00:25:53.529 --> 00:25:55.630 event where he seized power at D 'Annunzio fell 00:25:55.630 --> 00:25:58.009 out of a window. He fell. You're saying that 00:25:58.009 --> 00:25:59.869 with some skepticism. Well, that's the official 00:25:59.869 --> 00:26:02.869 story. He fell from a high window at his villa 00:26:02.869 --> 00:26:05.579 on Lake Garda. Now, maybe he slipped. He was 00:26:05.579 --> 00:26:07.819 known to drink. He used cocaine. He was getting 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:10.839 older. But the timing is just incredibly suspicious. 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:14.079 Many historians, and certainly Denuncio himself 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:17.160 at times, suspected he was pushed by a fascist 00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:19.440 agent to get him out of the way. Defenestration 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.940 is a very classic way to solve a political problem. 00:26:22.099 --> 00:26:24.599 It is. And whether it was an accident or an attempt, 00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:28.039 it worked. He was badly injured, a skull fracture, 00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:30.660 broken ribs. He was out of commission for months. 00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:32.640 By the time he had recovered, Mussolini was the 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:35.339 prime minister of Italy. The moment, his moment 00:26:35.339 --> 00:26:38.420 to lead, had passed forever. So Mussolini wins. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:42.079 But he still has this hugely famous, unpredictable, 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:45.180 and frankly embarrassing war hero sitting around. 00:26:45.900 --> 00:26:48.160 How did he handle it? Mussolini was very clever 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:50.980 about it. He had a strategy. He is famously quoted 00:26:50.980 --> 00:26:52.900 as saying, when you have a rotten tooth, you 00:26:52.900 --> 00:26:55.079 have two possibilities. Either you pull the tooth 00:26:55.079 --> 00:26:57.140 or you fill it with gold. And he chose to fill 00:26:57.140 --> 00:27:00.420 it with gold. He filled Denuncio with gold. He 00:27:00.420 --> 00:27:03.480 showered him with state funds. He financed the 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:06.400 lavish publication of his complete works. He 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:08.940 gave him the title of Prince of Montenavoso in 00:27:08.940 --> 00:27:12.640 1924. He paid for the creation of his extravagant 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:15.380 villa. He basically bribed him into a golden 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:17.720 retirement to stay out of politics and keep his 00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:21.579 mouth shut. But did Denuncio stay quiet? Or did 00:27:21.579 --> 00:27:23.819 the tooth keep aching? For the most part, he 00:27:23.819 --> 00:27:26.430 stayed in his golden cage. But he had his moments 00:27:26.430 --> 00:27:28.549 of rebellion. His politics were always fluid, 00:27:28.670 --> 00:27:30.750 always theatrical. You have to remember, back 00:27:30.750 --> 00:27:33.509 in 1897, he'd been elected to parliament as a 00:27:33.509 --> 00:27:35.990 man of the far right. And then one day, he just 00:27:35.990 --> 00:27:38.309 dramatically walked across the floor of the chamber 00:27:38.309 --> 00:27:40.589 to join the far left, the socialists, shouting, 00:27:40.769 --> 00:27:43.809 I go towards life. He never really fit into the 00:27:43.809 --> 00:27:47.269 rigid discipline mold of the fascist party. And 00:27:47.269 --> 00:27:49.230 there's a really surprising twist involving his 00:27:49.230 --> 00:27:51.380 feelings about Hitler, right? This is one of 00:27:51.380 --> 00:27:53.200 the most fascinating parts of his later life. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:55.400 You would think the inventor of the fascist salute 00:27:55.400 --> 00:27:57.839 would be a big fan of the Nazis. But D 'Annunzio 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.759 despised Hitler, absolutely despised him. He 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:03.440 called him a ferocious clown and a horrible painted 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:06.859 pagan. Really? Why the hostility? He was a passionate 00:28:06.859 --> 00:28:09.819 Italian nationalist. He viewed the Germans as 00:28:09.819 --> 00:28:12.599 the historic enemy of Italy, the barbarians from 00:28:12.599 --> 00:28:15.079 the north. He didn't buy into the Nordic racial 00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:19.740 theories at all. In 1933 and 1934, he wrote frantic 00:28:19.740 --> 00:28:22.640 letters to Mussolini, begging him not to form 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:25.359 an alliance with Hitler. He even wrote a satirical 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:28.480 pamphlet mocking Hitler's mustache and his screeching 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.880 voice. That is not the history we usually hear. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:32.740 We tend to just lump all these guys together. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:36.880 No, he saw the danger. In 1937, he was old and 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.440 frail, but he traveled to a train station in 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.299 Verona to meet Mussolini one last time to try 00:28:42.299 --> 00:28:45.000 and talk him out of the Axis alliance. He failed, 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.160 obviously, but he saw the disaster that was coming. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:50.299 So let's talk about where he spent all that gold 00:28:50.299 --> 00:28:52.599 Mussolini gave him. He retired to this place 00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:55.690 he created. called Il Vittoriale degli Italiani. 00:28:55.690 --> 00:28:57.650 The Shrine of the Italian People's Victories. 00:28:57.849 --> 00:29:00.269 It's in Dardoni Riviera, on the shores of Lake 00:29:00.269 --> 00:29:01.890 Garda. And if you think his life was eccentric, 00:29:02.089 --> 00:29:04.390 you should see his house. It's a national monument 00:29:04.390 --> 00:29:06.769 in Italy now, and it is a complete trip to visit. 00:29:06.910 --> 00:29:09.569 What makes it so strange? It's a claustrophobic, 00:29:09.569 --> 00:29:12.849 cluttered, mystical labyrinth. It's part military 00:29:12.849 --> 00:29:16.150 museum, part library, part temple, part mausoleum. 00:29:16.750 --> 00:29:18.970 The rooms are deliberately kept very dark. He 00:29:18.970 --> 00:29:20.950 had sensitive eyes, remember? And they're just 00:29:20.950 --> 00:29:23.329 crammed with thousands of objects, books, statues, 00:29:23.470 --> 00:29:25.789 and relics. But the outside is even crazier. 00:29:26.269 --> 00:29:30.230 He has the actual torpedo boat, the MAS -96 from 00:29:30.230 --> 00:29:32.970 the Bakar raid, preserved in the gardens. He 00:29:32.970 --> 00:29:35.609 kept the boat in his garden. He kept the boat. 00:29:35.710 --> 00:29:39.250 He also has the SVA -5 aircraft. He flew over 00:29:39.250 --> 00:29:41.690 Vienna, hanging from the ceiling of an auditorium 00:29:41.690 --> 00:29:45.109 he built. But the wildest thing, by far, is the 00:29:45.109 --> 00:29:48.390 battleship. The prow of the cruiser Puglia. A 00:29:48.390 --> 00:29:50.829 battleship. How'd he get a battleship in a garden 00:29:50.829 --> 00:29:53.190 on the side of a lake? The Italian Navy donated 00:29:53.190 --> 00:29:55.549 the front third of the warship Puglia to him. 00:29:55.630 --> 00:29:57.849 He had it dismantled, hauled up the side of a 00:29:57.849 --> 00:30:00.150 hill by military engineers using a special railway, 00:30:00.390 --> 00:30:02.829 and reassembled in his garden, with the prow 00:30:02.829 --> 00:30:05.289 pointing out towards the Adriatic Sea. He used 00:30:05.289 --> 00:30:07.150 to go up on the deck and fire the cannons on 00:30:07.150 --> 00:30:09.269 special occasions. That is the ultimate dictator 00:30:09.269 --> 00:30:11.950 chic, having a literal battleship in your backyard. 00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:15.059 It reflects his mind perfectly. It's grand, it's 00:30:15.059 --> 00:30:17.599 aggressive, it's theatrical, and it's completely 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:20.579 disconnected from everyday reality. He lived 00:30:20.579 --> 00:30:22.980 there as the strained hermit king, surrounded 00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:25.980 by relics of his own glory, engaging in bizarre 00:30:25.980 --> 00:30:28.980 rituals, using drugs, and writing endlessly. 00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:31.680 And that's where he died. Yes. He died of a stroke 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:35.299 in March 1938 right at his desk. Mussolini ordered 00:30:35.299 --> 00:30:38.339 a massive state funeral. It was a huge national 00:30:38.339 --> 00:30:41.640 event. Probably the biggest sigh of relief Mussolini 00:30:41.640 --> 00:30:45.259 ever had. Very likely. The rotten tooth was finally 00:30:45.259 --> 00:30:48.700 and permanently gone. And Mussolini was now completely 00:30:48.700 --> 00:30:51.039 free to march Italy into the disaster of World 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:53.740 War II without D 'Annunzio, the old prophet, 00:30:53.980 --> 00:30:56.740 chirping in his ear. So we've covered the poet, 00:30:56.839 --> 00:30:59.339 the lover, the pilot, the dictator, and the hermit. 00:30:59.380 --> 00:31:01.440 I mean, it's an exhausting life just to talk 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:03.160 about. But let's bring this home for you listening. 00:31:03.640 --> 00:31:06.180 Why does D 'Annunzio still matter today? Why 00:31:06.180 --> 00:31:08.480 should we care about a dead Italian poet from 00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:11.150 a century ago? I think D 'Annunzio matters because 00:31:11.150 --> 00:31:14.930 he unlocked something terrifyingly modern, the 00:31:14.930 --> 00:31:18.009 raw power of aesthetics in politics. He proved 00:31:18.009 --> 00:31:20.230 that you didn't need a coherent economic plan 00:31:20.230 --> 00:31:22.690 or a rational platform to capture the masses. 00:31:22.910 --> 00:31:25.750 You needed style. You needed emotion. You needed 00:31:25.750 --> 00:31:28.539 a good story and a catchy chant. He turned politics 00:31:28.539 --> 00:31:30.380 into a performance art, the ultimate reality 00:31:30.380 --> 00:31:33.740 show. Exactly. He showed the world that if you 00:31:33.740 --> 00:31:35.779 can capture the imagination of the crowd with 00:31:35.779 --> 00:31:38.339 beauty, with myth, with spectacle, they will 00:31:38.339 --> 00:31:40.900 follow you anywhere, even into a disastrous war 00:31:40.900 --> 00:31:43.400 against their own interests. When we look at 00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:45.440 modern politics, when we talk about optics or 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:47.759 controlling the narrative or the atmosphere of 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:50.599 a rally rather than the policy details, all of 00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:53.440 that traces a direct line back to Fumé. He was 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:55.579 the ultimate influencer before the word even 00:31:55.579 --> 00:31:59.130 existed. He curated his life, his image, and 00:31:59.130 --> 00:32:01.769 for a short time, his own country. And he left 00:32:01.769 --> 00:32:04.289 a legacy that is just incredibly complicated. 00:32:04.650 --> 00:32:07.130 He's a literary giant who revolutionized the 00:32:07.130 --> 00:32:09.650 Italian language. He was a war hero of genuine, 00:32:09.730 --> 00:32:12.609 undeniable courage. But he was also the architect 00:32:12.609 --> 00:32:15.190 of a style of politics, a style of dictatorship 00:32:15.190 --> 00:32:17.890 that caused immense suffering across Europe. 00:32:18.130 --> 00:32:20.730 He embodied the contradictions of the 20th century, 00:32:20.849 --> 00:32:23.329 that violent clash between the old world of aristocracy 00:32:23.329 --> 00:32:26.150 and high art and the new world of mass. media, 00:32:26.309 --> 00:32:29.329 populism, and violence. It really makes you look 00:32:29.329 --> 00:32:31.250 at the leaders we watch on our screens today 00:32:31.250 --> 00:32:33.069 differently, doesn't it? How much of what we 00:32:33.069 --> 00:32:36.400 see is substance and how much is just? The balcony 00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:40.079 speech. The clever chant. The a la... That is 00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:42.400 the question DiNunzio forces us to ask every 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:44.519 single day. And I think somewhere he would be 00:32:44.519 --> 00:32:46.420 absolutely delighted that we're still talking 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:48.839 about him, still puzzled by him, almost a century 00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:51.059 after his death. The show goes on. You definitely 00:32:51.059 --> 00:32:53.720 would be. Well, that's our deep dive on Gabriele 00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:56.380 DiNunzio, the man who lived a dozen lives and 00:32:56.380 --> 00:32:59.119 filled them all with gold, poetry, and castor 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:00.819 oil. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next 00:33:00.819 --> 00:33:01.079 time.