Croce, by now openly condemning Fascism as a “moral malady,” was too famous to be assassinated, but the state had other means of silencing him. During the more than twenty years that Mussolini was in power, Croce’s books were not published, nor was his name mentioned in academic or general publications. His Naples home, a meeting place for dissident intellectuals from all over the country, was “searched” by uniformed Fascists, who were careful to create a maximum of chaos and destruction in his library. But the philosopher refused to be intimidated.
