On May 3 we protested the rising tide of American fascism in Rome, right near Piazza Venezia. The sign I’m holding reads: “Accept nothing from fascism. Non accettare nulla dal fascismo.” It’s a quote from Italian poet, scholar and anti-fascist Lauro De Bosis, whose final act of resistance against Mussolini’s regime was to fly a small plane over Piazza Venezia and central Rome, disseminating hundreds of thousands of anti-fascist pamphlets overhead. He was never heard from again. His body was never found.

I wrote about Lauro some years ago, recounting my discovery of him at the Gotham Book Mart and subsequent obsession with his life and work. I even attempted a verse translation of Icaro, his 1927 verse drama about the myth of Icarus, which eerily foreshadows his own demise. I realized it was beyond my powers of translation at the time, but I may one day come back to it if I ever take up residence on the Isle of Innisfree.

There is a lot to say about Lauro De Bosis, and to this day I am stupefied by the fact that almost no one I talk to has ever heard of him. In any case, his memory was alive and well last Saturday among a scrappy gathering of Americans abroad protesting the excesses and obscenities of one of Mussolini’s most shameless admirers, one who at present occupies – somehow – the Oval Office. We will keep resisting until this sham administration crumbles under the weight of its own corruption and incompetence. They all do, eventually.

Below is a photo of Piazza Lauro De Bosis, in Rome. There must have been a bureaucrat with a sense of humor at some point.

Bust of De Bosis on the Ganicolo in Rome. There is no bust of Mussolini.

Resist.