Royal Academy of Italy

1929 inauguration of the Academy

The Royal Academy of Italy (Italian: Reale Accademia d'Italia) was a short-lived Italian academy of the Fascist period. It was created on 7 January 1926 by royal decree,[1] but was not inaugurated until 28 October 1929.[2] It was effectively dissolved in 1943 with the fall of Mussolini, and was finally suppressed on 28 September 1944.[3] All of its functions and assets, including the Villa Farnesina, were passed to the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.[3] Until 25 April 1945 it continued some activity in the Villa Carlotta on Lake Como near Tremezzo in Lombardy.[4]

The declared purpose of the academy was "to promote and coordinate Italian intellectual activity in the sciences, the humanities, and the arts, to preserve the integrity of the national spirit, according to the genius and tradition of the race, and to encourage their diffusion [abroad]".[5]

  1. ^ See reference Cannistraro 1982, p. 474.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference lincei was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference lincei2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference trecc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ See Cannistraro 1982, p. 474: an excerpt of the discourse of Benito Mussolini during the debate in the Italian Parliament following the decree of foundation of the academy is reported by Cagiano De Azevedo & Gerardi (2005, p. XI), and reads exactly as follows: [l’Istituto] (...) dovrà perciò avere un suo compito affatto diverso da quello delle altre Accademie esistenti nel Regno (...) [alle] quali sono affidati generalmente compiti particolari o locali, l’Accademia d’Italia dovrà essere un centro vivo della cultura nazionale, che alimenti e promuova il movimento intellettuale, secondo il genio e la tradizione della nostra gente, e ne diffonda l’efficacia oltre i confini della Patria (...) L’Accademia potrà inoltre dare saggio ed utile ausilio al Governo nello studio e nella risoluzione dei più gravi problemi relativi alla cultura nazionale.