Abstract

The institution Regia Guardia of the Italian Police was the force dependent on the In- terior Ministry established by Francesco Saverio Nitti and prematurely suppressed by Benito Mussolini. It was the first attempt in liberal Italian history to provide for a modern law enforcement body in terms of dimension and organization. As far as law and order and repression of protest were concerned, it represented at one and the same time the most substantial attempt and the biggest failure for the liberal governing class in its attempt to confront the political and social crisis of the first postwar. Nonetheless, the history of the Regia Guardia is still largely unknown and the article covers its foundation, organization, and activities, on a sound documentary basis.