How successful was Mussolini in creating a force of loyal and committed policemen to defend his regime and assist in the creation of a new fascist civilisation? How far were the Italian police transformed under Mussolini, and how did policemen experience the dictatorship? This book examines the professional activities and culture of Italy’s regular police in the context of fascism’s efforts to modernise and establish ideological control over the state. Based on a detailed analysis of institutional correspondence and literature (regulations, manuals, journals, etc.), it takes a close look inside police headquarters and training schools, and reconstructs the lives and careers of the men who staffed them.

The book considers the impact of the dictatorship on policing in Italy in the context of the occupational frustrations of the liberal police and the consequent attraction of many in their ranks to fascism. Contrasting the regime’s idealised representations of the police with the more humdrum realities of daily practice, it focuses particularly on recruitment, training, and professionalism in the Interior Ministry Police, as well as the ideological orientation, working conditions and quality of life of their members. The book additionally analyses how Italy’s policemen confronted the fall of Mussolini and how far the culture of policing continued to be influenced by fascism in the early years of the Republic.

Presenting an inside perspective on fascist repression, this book will be of special interest to students and researchers in police history, Italian fascism and, more generally, conflict and oppression in the twentieth century.