Verona at War (Volume I)

Author(s): Richard Hough

Location(s): Verona

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Era(s): 1920s/1930s

This is the story of an ancient city at war.

From the embers of the Great War, a violent new ideology is born.

In the streets and piazzas of Verona, the fledgling movement establishes a foothold. Led by charismatic ideologues with the financial backing of wealthy barons and the brute force of a violent mob, the ideology quickly spreads across the city and beyond. It even hosts a series of dramatic interventions by the movement’s leader himself, Benito Mussolini.

Seizing power, the new regime immediately embarks on an ambitious programme of urban renewal and industrial regeneration, but violence and intimidation are never far behind.

From the first humble meetings in a backstreet osteria, to the striking torchlight processions and relentless campaign of mob violence, Richard Hough charts the shocking rise of fascism in a city more commonly associated with the genteel world of opera and Shakespeare.

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