«The rhythm starts here». Gabriele D’Annunzio and the myth of the “march” between aes-thetics and politics

Abstract

This essay analyses Gabriele D’Annunzio’s march of Ronchi in the context of the postwar crisis and the debate over its relationship with fascism. The undertaking is interpreted as a political-aesthetic laboratory founded on myths, rituals, and mobilization. The march emerges as a cat-egory capable of uniting art, war, and politics. Although lacking a true project of power and marked by failure, Fiume provided a symbolic legacy that Benito Mussolini’s fascism was able to rework.