The choice of Brindisi and fundraising
In 1923 the Italian government, headed by Mussolini, announced their intention to build, in a seaside town, a monument in memory of all the sailors who died during the First World War. The city of Brindisi immediately presented itself as a candidate for the location for the monument.
The local council collected the support of many important local people, and of senior authorities in the navy and the state who were in favour of Brindisi as the location for the monument. Finally on 20 June 1925 Mussolini gave his consent due to "merits acquired (...) during the First World War", and he accepted the city's offer to be chairman of the Honour Committee for the building of the monument. Meanwhile King Vittorio Emanuele III also granted his patronage to the project.
In the following years the city committee worked in every possible way to raise funds for the construction of the monument, promoting subscriptions, selling commemorative stamps, holding balls and concerts; most notably a concert by the famous Lecce tenor Tito Schipa. But the sum required was not reached.
The financial problem was finally resolved when Achille Starace, who had always passionately followed and supported the project to build the monument in Brindisi, became the commissioner of the Lega Navale Italiana, which agreed to make up the difference between the target of 1,200,000 lire and the sum already collected by the city committee since 1925.
