The map “Italy 1934 – Year XII,” drawn by Leroy H. Appleton and published in New York in 1933 in the American magazine “Fortune,” is an interesting depiction combining art, geography, propaganda and political satire. Ostensibly a depiction of Italy in early 20th century graphic taste, the map is actually a biting critique of Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime, seen through the author’s ironic and provocative gaze.
The title itself, which refers to the twelfth year of the fascist era, already suggests the tone of the composition. The new calendar wanted by the regime counted the years from the March on Rome in 1922, and began on October 29, the day after the anniversary of the event. The system of dating in Roman numerals and the abandonment of the Gregorian calendar, defined as “bourgeois,” are evoked in the map not only as a historical fact, but as an example of fascism’s obsessively symbolic and self-referential ideology. The map turns out to be a rather sarcastic portrait of Italy-in fact, the main regions and cities are accompanied by ironic notes, socio-political comments and observations on typical products and economic conditions. Sicily, for example, is listed as the region with the worst working conditions in the country, linked to sulfur mining, while Calabria is reported to have an illiteracy rate of 48 percent. In Sardinia, Appleton writes that the dialect is incomprehensible to mainland Italians, adding with subtle sarcasm that Fascist officers must wear local wool coats to support the island’s industry. Not even the Church is spared: the Palace of Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence, is described as Pius XI’s “summer home and chicken farm.”
In the north, industrial cities such as Turin, Milan, and Genoa are highlighted for their economic importance, but even here Appleton plays with the contradictions of the regime, emphasizing the propagandistic use of industrial modernization. There is no shortage of references to Gabriele D’Annunzio, who at his residence on Lake Garda “plays with his warship” while simultaneously dabbling in metaphysics.
Other annotations concern agricultural products (wines, olives, lemons, oranges, almonds) and the network of sea and land connections, including travel times from Rome to major European capitals.
Particularly significant is the box in the upper right entitled “From the War,” which highlights the expansionist aims of postwar Italy. After World War I, the country gained new territories, but continued to claim areas considered “unredeemed Italian,” such as Corsica, Nice, Malta and even Canton Ticino in Switzerland. Appleton highlights Italian resentment toward France and Yugoslavia, as well as the direct support given by the fascist regime to Dollfuss’s authoritarian government in Austria, not only ideologically but also financially.
Leroy H. Appleton, active since the 1930s, was known for his educational illustrations and maps, often characterized by subtle critical humor. In this case, his work goes far beyond geography: it is a document that chronicles Fascist Italy from an outsider’s perspective, disenchanted and lucidly polemical. The map was published as a double-page spread to accompany an overtly anti-fascist article, two pages of which are printed on the back of the illustration itself.
