ABSTRACT
In Italy the nationalists and, first, Benito Mussolini, then the entire press let it be understood that the conference had reached a deadlock. The atmosphere of May, 1915, returned. Prince Colonna, the mayor of Rome, called for demonstrations; the nationalist press and Mussolini's Popolo attacked the Allies and spoke of a "supreme moment". The nationalists and Mussolini saw what had happened as corroboration of the Fascist leader's axiom: "Imperialism is the eternal and immutable law of life". General Giardino and Federzoni pledged their collaboration to d'Annunzio and Mussolini. In Milan a gay procession in Corso Venezia escorted a catafalque bearing the effigies of Mussolini and Marinetti as far as the Naviglio, where they were thrown into the canal. A few weeks after the elections, the Socialist tide swept in again, and Mussolini retreated into himself, returning to the quasi-anarchist bed-rock of his upbringing.
