In one of the many memorable sequences of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, “Benzino Napaloni”, ruler of “Bacteria”, pays a visit to “Adenoid Hynkel of Ptomania”, his self-styled “dictator friend”. Planned and scripted in 1938, the film was not released until 1940, when the world was at war—and the real “Napaloni” had yet to enter the conflict on the side of his supposed ally in the Rome-Berlin Axis. While Chaplin reasonably concluded that personal encounters between Hitler and Mussolini were unlikely to be cordial affairs—even if they did not, as in his case, devolve into a food fight featuring spaghetti and sauerkraut—the actual meetings between the two men could be quite effusive, and perhaps not merely for public consumption. According to the diaries of Mussolini’s mistress Clara Petacci (which were released upon a riveted Italian public a decade ago), Hitler had been moved to tears when departing Florence by train on 9 May 1938. As he recounted the gushing leave-taking the following day (and after making love ... twice), Mussolini observed, “Hitler was emotional when he left; he wept. He said to me: ‘These were the most beautiful days of my life, I will never forget them. Six days in a dream. I regret not having become an architect, I took the wrong road.’” Every moment of this state visit to Rome, Naples, and Florence had been carefully stage-managed by the Fascist regime, and ably supervised by its Minister of Culture, Giuseppe Bottai, for maximum cultural as well as political effect. Nevertheless, there were some slips. Recalling his service as Hitler’s translator during the visit (Mussolini claimed to be proficient in German himself, but, as Goeschel notes (43), this was far from the truth), the archaeologist Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli recalled a dicey discussion at the Mostra Augustea della Romanità [Augustan Exhibit of Romanness], a celebration of the Emperor Augustus for his 2000 birthday over the course of 1937-1938, Years XV-XVI in the Fascist Era. When Hitler declared that all great civilizations can be traced back to Atlantis, Mussolini asked Bianchi Bandinelli whether he had heard the statement correctly. When the archaeologist demurred that some marginal scholars believed this, Mussolini “nodded his head in agreement and yet, with his index finger out, made signs of disagreement behind Hitler’s back”.

中文翻译：

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墨索里尼和希特勒：法西斯同盟的锻造。克里斯蒂安·戈舍尔（ChristianGoeschel）。（康涅狄格州纽黑文：耶鲁大学出版社，2018. Px。388，$ 30.00。）

在查理·卓别林（Charlie Chaplin）的《大独裁者》中令人难忘的片段之一中，“细菌”的统治者“本西诺·纳帕洛尼”（Benzino Napaloni）拜访了他自称为“独裁者朋友”的“阿托纳德·汉克”。这部电影于1938年进行了计划和编写，直到1940年世界处于战争之中时才发行。真正的“纳帕洛尼”尚未进入他所谓的罗马－柏林轴心国的一方的冲突。尽管卓别林合理地得出结论，希特勒和墨索里尼之间的亲密接触不太可能是亲切的事务，即使他们没有像他的情况那样演变成以意大利面和酸菜为特色的食品大战，但两人之间的实际会面却颇具启发性，并且可能不仅仅用于公共消费。根据墨索里尼情妇克拉拉·佩塔奇（Clara Petacci）的日记（十年前在意大利的公开场合发布），希特勒在1938年5月9日乘火车离开佛罗伦萨时曾感动得泪流满面。 （和做过两次爱人之后），墨索里尼观察到：“希特勒离开时情绪激动；他哭了。他对我说：“这些是我一生中最美好的日子，我永远不会忘记他们。在梦中六天。我很遗憾没有成为建筑师，我走了错误的路。'”这次对罗马，那不勒斯和佛罗伦萨的国事访问的每一刻都受到法西斯政权的精心管理，并由其文化部长朱塞佩（Giuseppe）合理地监督。博泰，以最大程度地发挥文化和政治影响。尽管如此，还是有一些失误。回忆起访问期间希特勒的翻译工作（墨索里尼声称自己精通德语，但正如Goeschel所言（43），事实并非如此），考古学家Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli回忆起在Mostra Augustea della进行的辩论Romanità（奥古斯丁浪漫主义展览），庆祝奥古斯都皇帝在1937-1938年（法西斯时代十五至十六年）诞辰2000周年。当希特勒宣布所有伟大的文明都可以追溯到亚特兰蒂斯时，墨索里尼问比安奇·班迪内利（Bianchi Bandinelli）是否正确地听到了这一说法。当考古学家对一些边缘学者相信这一点表示异议时，墨索里尼“点了点头，但伸出食指却表明希特勒在背后背道而驰”。