"Il Duce" is a title, cognate with Duke or Doge, translated as (The) Leader,
analogous to "Der Fuehrer."  You don't combine it with Mussolini,
you substitute it for the name, just as with Hitler.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duce

I guess the column is still there on the lake shore, but I have never
noticed it.  We certainly still have the little street called Balbo.
As often as not people call it Balboa, so don't feel bad  :-)

At 12:49 PM 6/19/2011, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>found an old bronze 5" air medal from the 30"s in the collapsed crypt of the old church in Mobile 
> 
>need to decipher the following 
>(I got as far as Mussolini / and his air minister Balboa / on back of bronze  )
>but what did "Duce "mean ? was it a preface such as "Leader" ? or somethig more sinister like dictator 
> 
>the date is 1933;  in roman numerals  then follows  
> 
>Crociera aerea del Decennale 
>Roma New York Chicago 
> 
>It has something to do with the Chicago Worlds fair Century of Progress 
>Mussolini Duce or Duce Mussolini ( which is correct?) 
>anyway the Duce gave a Fascist stone ( masonry ?)  column in honor of the (italian americans ) in Chicago and the said column is supposed to be still there ...that's as far as I got 
>.anybody know anything about  what the Italian means and where the column might be ? ///Py 

Martin C. Tangora
University of Illinois at Chicago
[log in to unmask]

--
**Please remember to trim posts, as requested in the Terms of Service**

To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>