The cult of the Duce is the first book to explore systematically the personality cult of the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, looking in detail at its many manifestations in the visual arts, architecture, political spectacle and the media, and analyses its controversial resonances in the postwar period.

Introduction - Stephen Gundle, Christopher Duggan and Giuliana Pieri1. Political cults in liberal Italy, 1861-1922 - Christopher Duggan2. The propagation of the cult of the Duce, 1925-26 - Christopher Duggan3. Margherita Sarfatti and the invention of the Duce - Simona Storchi4. Sanity from a lunatic asylum: Ida Dalser's threat to Mussolini's image - Daniela Baratieri5. Mass culture and the cult of personality - Stephen Gundle6. A town for the cult of the Duce: Predappio as a site of pilgrimage - Sofia Serenelli7. Mussolini's appearances in the regions - Stephen Gundle8. The internalisation of the cult of the Duce: the evidence of diaries and letters - Christopher Duggan9. Mussolini and the Italian Empire, 1935-41 - Giuseppe Finaldi10. Portraits of the Duce - Giuliana Pieri11. Photographing Mussolini - Alessandra Antola12. Mussolini as monument: the equestrian statue of the Duce at the Littoriale stadium in Bologna - Simona Storchi13. Mussolini and the city of Rome - Eugene Pooley14. The destiny of the art and artefacts - Giuliana Pieri15. The aftermath of the Mussolini cult: history, nostalgia and popular culture - Stephen Gundle16. Mussolini and postwar Italian television - Vanessa RoghiAfterword - R.J.B. BosworthNotes on contributorsIndex