Season 1

It is 1919, and the Great War that has ravaged Europe is over. In Italy, the people are exhausted. Tired of the political class. Tired of vague promises, inept moderates, and the agonizing machinations of a democracy that has failed ordinary citizens. While elite leaders have sat idly by, achieving nothing, one outsider--the director of a small opposition newspaper and a tireless political agitator--is electrifying the masses, promising hope for a demoralized nation hungry for change. A former socialist leader ousted by his own party, he is a drifter who knows what it is to feel lost. His voice speaks for the misfits and the outcasts; he is a protector of those who are forgotten. He is Benito Mussolini. And soon Italy--and the world--will be forever remade.

Le 23 mars 1919, le groupuscule Faisceaux de combat est constitué à Milan par Benito Mussolini, un obscur journaliste et activiste. Le 3 janvier 1925, désormais chef du gouvernement italien, le même Mussolini assume ses responsabilités dans l’enlèvement et l’assassinat d’un député qui s’était opposé à lui au Parlement. C’est le début du régime fasciste. Il a fallu seulement six ans à cet agitateur populiste et sans scrupule pour devenir le dictateur charismatique qui fascine tout un peuple.

La serie ripercorrerà la storia dalla fondazione dei Fasci Italiani nel 1919 fino al famigerato discorso di Mussolini in parlamento dopo l'omicidio del deputato socialista Giacomo Matteotti nel 1925. Offrirà inoltre uno spaccato del privato di Mussolini e delle sue relazioni personali, tra cui quelle con la moglie Rachele, l’amante Margherita Sarfatti e con altre figure iconiche dell'epoca.