Abstract

The article investigates how the Fascist dictatorship used the traditional role of the Italian fleet as an instrument of power projection to “showµ its flag outside Italy. By analysing the use of the fleet to support Fascist propaganda, the article sheds light on the institutional relations between Fascism and the Italian Navy, showing how the regime was able to change the institution’s mission in order to serve its foreign policy needs, also shaping the propaganda conveyed by the Italian fleet in the light of Fascist totalitarian modernity.