Italy has for the first time mapped out more than 1,400 monuments, street signs, and plaques honoring the country's former fascist regime. The "places of fascism" website aims to document symbols of Benito Mussolini's dictatorship across the country. It was unveiled on Tuesday after four years of research by the Istituto Nazionale Parri, a Milan-based historical research institute. "It is a partial census ... We know very well that it's not complete, it's very much a work in progress," webmaster Igor Pizzirusso told Reuters. The institute aims to expand the list of fascist monuments with public submissions, which will then be verified by historical experts. While Germany has systematically removed any sign of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime after World War II, Italy has not taken the same approach to Mussolini's legacy. One famous landmark of the 21-year dictatorship is a 36-meter-high obelisk in Rome marked in giant lettering with "Mussolini Dux" ("Mussolini leader"). Italy's new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has pledged that "the Italian right has handed fascism over to history for decades now". Her far-right Brothers of Italy party traces its roots to the post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). A new junior infrastructure minister recently sparked outrage in Italy after images emerged of him wearing a swastika on his arm in 2005. Italy's government also confirmed that it would remove a portrait of Mussolini "to avoid polemics and manipulations" after its recent display led to uproar. — Euronews
