The Roman Salute: the case of Italian dictatorship

I have received from a friend of mine the picture above.
For its interpretation I would suggest to read the book on the Roman salute or saluto Romano. "This book is the first systematic study of the saluto romano, the Roman or Fascist salute, in the various cultural contexts that were decisive for the origin of this gesture, its appropriation by totalitarian ideologies, and its dissemination. It also traces the survival of the raisedarm salute in the popular media until today, adducing and interpreting extensive textual and visual evidence since well before the birth of Fascism".
Italian history is complicate but at this stage one might reasonably say that it's a "fucking" history...of dictatorships...

PS: of course on Berlusconi's position there is a strong assumption that he can make it..