History of the U.S. Army Rest Center

     The U. S. Army Rest Center in Rome opened as the Fifth Army Rest Center on June 19th, 1944 just 14 days after Rome was liberated.
     Before that time, the Foro Mussolini, now renamed Foro d'Italia by the Italian Government, served as a military school for the "Balilla", the Fascist youth movement. High school graduates were enrolled and trained here in a three-year course to become physical education instructors in colleges, schools and in the army.  But, Mussolini's "Balilla" served for more than just physical training.  The "Balilla" was supposed to bring to Italian youth "healthy and coordinated physical and moral education, inspired by the high ideals of Fascism and the glorious traditions of the nation".  You have probably read one of the high ideals of Fascism inscribed in the mosaics behind the obelisk, "Moltii Nemici, Molto Onore", is "Many Enemies, Much Honor".
      When you walk over to the P.X., look at the statue of the "Balilla" next to it.  The marble figure of a boy with a gun and gas mask gives you a fair idea of what Mussolini was training Italian youth for.  However the dictator was clever enough to use an episode in Italian history as the basis for his Fascist youth organization. Back in the 18th century, when the Austrians invaded northern Italy, a resistance movement was started by the action of a single boy from Genova who threw a stone at the invaders and was for that nick-named "Balilla". Hereafter this word symbolized militant youth and nationalistic spirit to the Italian people.  In addition to the Fascist Academy in the Foro Mussolini, the "Balilla" ran a similar academy for girls at Orvieto, about 60 miles north of Rome. Mussolini's motto for Italian girls was what you might expect: "Mother, wife, sister, she must be strong, courageous, serene and ready for sacrifice."
     You are now staying in a place that has symbolized to Italians the ideals and triumphs of Fascism. Mussolini dedicated the first complete group of buildings in the Rest Center on October 28th anniversary of the Fascist Revolution.  Milestones in Fascist history are commemorated on the 26 marble blocks lining the area between the obelisk and the stone sphere.  The milestones begin with the year 1914 and end with 1936: Six are still blank.  Others show the dates of the March on Rome, the conquest of Addis Abeba and the founding of the "Empire".  Dictators are not known for their modesty, and Mussolini ran true to form.  Look at the mosaic borders inside the marble milestones the word "Duce" is repeated 264 times.  In the border around the stone sphere "A Noi Duce", repeated 75 times provides a variation on the theme.
     Incidentally, this area was known as the "Piazzale del'Impero, and the mosaics in the pavement were designed by modern Italian artists, Canevari, Capizzano, Rosso and Severini, who also did the ones in Building "C".
     A tour of the Rest Center might start with the stadium behind Building "D". This was the "Marble Stadium".  The marble was brought from Carrara where the finest marble is quarried.  The stadium is decorated with 60 statues, presented to Mussolini by 60 Italian provinces. Each statue is 4 meters high and symbolizes a different Italian game or sport.  The only typically American sport shown is baseball, and this statue is the sixty-first and is set down at the other end of the stadium by itself.  The stadium was built to seat 20,000 spectators and is more handsome though smaller than the large, unfinished "Olympic Stadium" next to it.
     The Olympics were never awarded to Italy, but Mussolini apparently intended to apply to the Committee at the 1940 games for award of the 1944 Olympics to Italy. The 1940 games were, however, never held having been to Japan and then to Finland, and both countries being at war by that time, so Mussolini's project never materialized. But the "Olympic Stadium" was built for that purpose and when Hitler visited Rome in April 1935, it was dedicated. Perhaps of more interest to Americans is the fact that Glen Cunningham ran in the track meet held during those dedication exercises in the stadium.
     In its present unfinished state, the stadium can hold only an estimated 50,000. The stadium at Florence, where the Allied Championship in track and field was held recently, has this beat with a seating capacity of 55,000 to 60,000.  But if the "Olympic Stadium" had been completed, it would have been the largest stadium in Italy with seats for 100,900 persons, parking space for more than 3,000 cars and facilities for track and field and for playing football and rugby.
     In front of the stadium is Building "D" which used to be an "Academy of Physical Education".  In the largest room in this building, which was used as a school room, are two murals by the artist Canevari.  One is supposed to symbolize Mussolini's farm improvements and malaria control programs. As you can imagine, this is not a very lively subject for a painting.  The other mural is much more dramatic and shows Mussolini, life-size, supervising the arming of the workers with guns.  In the lower left hand corner an enormous angel with sword and victor's wreath is flying out of the clouds towards Mussolini apparently about to crown him with the wreath.
     According to our Italian guide book, an Academy of Political Education" was located in Building "C".  Other sources claim, however, that Building "C" housed a music school and that the Political Academy was located in the white buildings, near Building "E", now used by the Air Corps.  But we are sure of one thing, when the large swimming pool in Building "G" was opened to the public in the summer of 1936, a restaurant and bar occupied the space now taken over as the Red Cross Lounge.  The pool, which is 50 meters long, looks out on a great sunken area designed for an outdoor swimming pool.  It was, however, never completed.  Above the lounge in Building "C" are a gymnasium and small swimming pool, which were kept for Mussolini's private use.  Notice the marble on the walls of the gym, which is in perfectly matched panels.  At the end of the room is a small white circular staircase and if you will climb to the top of it you will find a tremendous full-length sun lamp.  Behind Building "C" are the tennis courts and present P.X. building. The courts were to be used for playing preliminaries in the Olympic tennis matches.  A tunnel connects the dressing rooms and courts with the exhibition court in the small stadium next to the P.X.  This exhibition court was designed for playing the finals in the Olympics.
     Next to the P.X. is Building "B" which was a Fencing Academy, and where Mussolini himself used to show off his skill with the foils before important foreign guests.
     The only other building of interest is just outside the Rest Center Area.  It is the Villa Madama, on the hill behind the Rest Center.  The architectural plan was laid cut by the painter Raphael, who lived in the 16th century, for one of the Medici cardinals and the Villa itself is famous for its renaissance decorations.  It was used to house guests of the Foreign Ministry, among whom were Hitler, Goering, Lord Halifax, and Chamberlain. It has now been turned into a girls' school. (Permission to enter the grounds must be secured from the Italian Foreign Ministry.)
     The most conspicuous item in the Rest Center is certainly the obelisk at the entrance to the grounds. This great piece of marble was cut from the caves of Carrara, hauled down to Rome and set up during 1928 to 1933.  An Italian author has written a whole book called "0belisco Mussolini" describing the setting up of the obelisk as a superhuman task that could probably be accomplished only in a Fascist state. The book reaches its climax when the obelisk, 17.10m high, is finally raised into its present position and the scaffolding cut away. This is what the book says: "The removal of the scaffolding reveals the monument—splendid in the snowy whiteness of its marble, standing like a watchful sentinel at the entrance to the Forum, to testify through ages to come, to the new civilization of Mussolini."
     It may be of interest to the reader to note that according to the Italian guide books, Mussolini's obelisk is supposed to have a plate of pure gold weighing 72 lbs, covering the metal cap.  However, investigation reveals only the metal cap, no gold.