Imperial Line

The Imperial Line from Rome to Addis Ababa, from a 1937 promotional map by Ala Littoria

The Imperial Line (Italian: Linea dell'Impero, Linea Imperiale) was a flight route of the Italian national airline Ala Littoria between 1935 and 1941 during the Fascist era. It was the longest route in the Italian colonial empire in Africa and "the jewel in Ala Littoria's crown".[1] It connected Rome with Benghazi (Libya), Asmara (Eritrea), Addis Abeba (Ethiopia) and Mogadishu (Somalia). It carried passengers and mail. Italy ultimately lost control of the route during World War II.

According to Federico Caprotti, "The celebration of colonial air links ... can be seen as playing into modern connotations of speed, progress, and reach, as well as aspirations to superiority. ... [T]he geographical imaginations evinced through the airline's documents and visual materials are deeply modern in their celebration of technological prowess and the domination of nature and space."[1]

  1. ^ a b Caprotti, "Imagining Ethiopia", pp. 388–90.