---
title: 'Catania, Sicily: reading Allied news under U.S. and British flags, 1943'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/catania-allied-news-display-1943/
description: Sicilians in Catania study a pillar of Allied news photographs above U.S. and British flags, with a poster headed La Liberta in the window.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Catania, Sicily: reading Allied news under U.S. and British flags, 1943](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/catania-allied-news-display-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/catania-allied-news-display-1943.jpg)

# Catania, Sicily: reading Allied news under U.S. and British flags, 1943

Sicilians in Catania study a pillar of Allied news photographs above U.S. and British flags, with a poster headed La Liberta in the window. The official caption says the news was of particular interest because it "had been denied them during the Fascist years": the photograph was itself made for Allied publicity.

- **Date:** September 1943
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** U.S. Office of War Information (photograph); Allied Psychological Warfare Branch display
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=photograph)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Roosevelt Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=roosevelt-administration)
- **Leader:** [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=franklin-d-roosevelt)
- **Audience:** [Enemy civilians](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=enemy-civilians)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [Media and information](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=media-information), [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military)
- **Event:** [World War II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-ii)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)
- **Regime:** [Roosevelt administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/roosevelt-administration/)
- **Leader:** [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/roosevelt-administration/#franklin-d-roosevelt)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2017863755/), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (U.S. government work; LOC: no known restrictions) Nick Parrino, U.S. Office of War Information, 1943. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USW3-039937-E.

## Text on the object

Original (Italian) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
LA LIBERTA

[illegible — captions beneath the photographs pinned to the display pillar]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
LIBERTY

[illegible]
```

'LA LIBERTA' is the only clearly legible text, printed on a poster visible through the window behind the group. The pillar of Allied news photographs on the left carries typed or printed captions under each photo, but they are too small and low-resolution in this service JPEG to read.

[← 'Dangan kitte' (Bullet Stamps) war-savings lottery advertisement, back cover of Shashin Shūhō](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dangan-kitte-shashin-shuho-1943/) [Still from "Japanse propaganda tentoonstelling", Japanese military propaganda film shot in Java (c. 1944) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japanese-propaganda-film-exhibition-java-1944/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)