In 1929 Sergio went to live permanently in Rome with her partner, “Morris,” who, as mentioned earlier, would die of lung cancer in the summer of 1931. Fascism was in the throes of consolidating, its repressive apparatus had throttled its opponents and was keeping a watchful eye on public order, its long dispute with the Church had been settled with the Lateran Pacts, and the pernicious effects of the Great Depression had yet to be felt in Europe. Meanwhile Mussolini was battering the face of the capital, irreversibly demolishing houses, churches, and palaces to erect his monumental cult of romanità. Important historical vestiges of Medieval and Renaissance Rome were disappearing forever. The city had become a perpetually moving construction site.