As naval shells exploded amongst the terracotta tiles of Fiume’s roofs, throwing red dust and debris across his little Adriatic paradise, Gabriele D’Annunzio probably wondered where it had all gone wrong.
What a great read. Hughes-Hallett presents D’Annunzio as a bizarre mixture of Wilde, Kipling and Cecil Rhodes, but mysteriously irresistible to both women and men, and still celebrated in streets, squares and public buildings over Italy.
There’s a book that needs to be written on cocaine a century ago (maybe it has been). I recently read Anthony Beevor on Russia’s post-revolution Civil War. The Whites were pretty useless at securing supplies of weapons and food, but they never ran out of cocaine, apparently.
Great stuff Ned. I had heard of postwar Fiume and D'Annunzio, but it takes a talented writer to put it all together in a way that sticks through the structure of an adventure tale, or Shakespearean tragedy.
I know it must be difficult to find a niche and an audience in a media landscape overflowing with bloggers and YouTuber who do short form & entertaining history. But I think you have a distinct voice and hope you keep writing.
Love this essay. Guglielmo Marconi, whose invention did so much to start and prosecute the First World War, visited D’Annunzio in Fiume. If you ever have reason to follow up this essay, that would be a brilliant topic. Recalling that episode, Timothy C. Campbell observed that “Marconi biographies figure the wireless as an explicit seminating force or a technological Moloch to whom human sacrifices are required."
What a great read. Hughes-Hallett presents D’Annunzio as a bizarre mixture of Wilde, Kipling and Cecil Rhodes, but mysteriously irresistible to both women and men, and still celebrated in streets, squares and public buildings over Italy.
There’s a book that needs to be written on cocaine a century ago (maybe it has been). I recently read Anthony Beevor on Russia’s post-revolution Civil War. The Whites were pretty useless at securing supplies of weapons and food, but they never ran out of cocaine, apparently.
This sounds more like a fanciful work of fiction than actual history. But truth can be stranger than fiction.
Great stuff Ned. I had heard of postwar Fiume and D'Annunzio, but it takes a talented writer to put it all together in a way that sticks through the structure of an adventure tale, or Shakespearean tragedy.
I know it must be difficult to find a niche and an audience in a media landscape overflowing with bloggers and YouTuber who do short form & entertaining history. But I think you have a distinct voice and hope you keep writing.
Interesting story and a great read. Thanks!
A crazy story. The history from this region is immense. I hope to explore more of it someday. Thanks for the read!
Love this essay. Guglielmo Marconi, whose invention did so much to start and prosecute the First World War, visited D’Annunzio in Fiume. If you ever have reason to follow up this essay, that would be a brilliant topic. Recalling that episode, Timothy C. Campbell observed that “Marconi biographies figure the wireless as an explicit seminating force or a technological Moloch to whom human sacrifices are required."