School of Fascist Mysticism

[4] The school was founded through the efforts of Niccolò Giani and the Milan Gruppo Universitario Fascista, a youth wing of the National Fascist Party for university students.

Giani anticipated the opening on April 4, in an article in the GUF newspaper "Libro e moschetto" (Book and Musket)[6] The School of Fascist Mysticism was founded that same Spring in Milan, under the patronage of Benito Mussolini's brother, Arnaldo Mussolini, and in the presence of Catholic Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster.

Giani explained the objectives of the creation of the school were not to create a duplicate of one of the many organizations of the regime, but to achieve a complete education for students enrolled in GUF.

[9]The school proposed the goal of reviving the spirit of Fascism, the battlefield trench (recalling Italy's role in World War I) and the first years of the movement, delivered ideally through a new generation.

The key principles on which the teaching was based were: voluntary activism; faith in Italy, from which it was believed faither in Benito Mussolini and Fascism derived; anti-rationalism; a mixture of religion and politics; teachings against liberal democracy (constitutional democracy) and socialism; and a cult of Ancient Rome (romanità).

The "Covo" over the years had been transformed into a permanent museum of the Fascist Revolution, and since November 15, 1939 the entire building had been declared a "national monument" with an "honour guard" made of fighters from the squadrismo (squadristi) and veterans.

Intended to set down the rights of the Catholic Church in Italy, it was signed one year before the founding of the School of Fascist Mysticism.

Fouché and Robespierre had the goal of eliminating the Roman Catholic Church in France and replacing it with a secular, state-organized religion.

In 1931, the Pope was compelled to issue a public, formal papal encyclical, Non abbiamo bisogno, denouncing the "pagan idolatry of the state" being introduced to Italy by Mussolini.

Julius Evola was among the supporters of this initiative for the possibilities it could offer in the creation of an elite inspired by the traditional values he espoused.

After the entry of Italy into World War II on June 10, 1940, the School was entrusted to the regency of Salvatore Atzeni,[17] and classes were suspended, in large part because most directors had left voluntarily under the instigation of Niccolò Giani.

Some eminent scholars have traced the brief notes and put them in works of broader scope: Bobbio, Casucci, Isnenghi,[21] Nolte, De Felice, Gentile, Ledeen[22] Greater depth was instead shown by Daniele Marchesini, Betri,[23] Signori, La Rovere,[24] journalists of the caliber of Bocca, de Antonellis[25] and Giannantoni.

[28] By 2004 blooms a certain interest in Fascist Mysticism: there are published, without the knowledge of the other one, two works: L. Fantini, Essenza mistica del fascismo totalitario.