Milan is a metropolis. It has as many as 1.3 million inhabitants. Every day there are thousands of people arriving. Thousands of cars circulate, in short as a good metropolis should, Milan is a big city. The number of streets also reflects the size of the capital city. In fact, it is estimated that the city counts more than 4,000 streets , avenues, squares, alleys and private roads. But in this intricate street system there is one. Do you know which one it might be? Let’s find out
During Fascism, in 1931, Benito Mussolini, the then Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 to 1943, issued an order to all Italian municipalities to name a non-secondary street in each center after Rome. Behind this imposed motivation was the Duce’s desire to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the “March on Rome.” That is, the famous armed demonstration organized by the National Fascist Party in 1922 with the aim of furthering the rise of Mussolini.
On that occasion, thousands of Fascists went en masse to Rome threatening the seizure of power by violence until the then King Victor Emmanuel III instructed Mussolini to form a new government on October 30 of that year, two days after the March.
So what is the missing street in Milan?
It may have become clear from the brief historical context above. So, the street that is missing in Milan that, on the other hand, is present in the vast majority of Italian cities large and small is precisely Via Roma. That’s right, Milan has streets dedicated to eminent people, important historical events or specific places. But, Via Roma is missing.
There would actually be Corso di Porta Romana, which in Fascist times to meet the demands of the Duce was changed to Corso Roma, but with the collapse of Fascism Milan, unlike many other cities, had the street returned to its original name, ” el Cors de porta Rumana . ” A gesture of rebellion against the fallen party, however, which thus sparked outrage in Rome.
Also in 2005 there was a debate between the then mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, and the mayor of Milan, Gabriele Albertini. The Roman first citizen pointed out the inconsistency to the Milanese one, who got away with a… “we’ll do it”… but years later, there still seems to be no idea to do it.
Not only Milan, but Naples also seems to lack a Via Roma. At the time Via Toledo was renamed according to Mussolini’s decree, but even here with the fall of the government the name changed to Via Roma formerly Via Toledo and then returned with its original name in 1980.