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A text hidden underneath an obelisk in Rome throws new light on Benito Mussolini's fascist regime and how it wished to be seen by future generations, BBC News  writes.

According to the source, written in Latin on parchment, the text is buried along with gold coins at the base of the Mussolini Obelisk in the Foro Italico sports complex in Rome. It is a eulogistic account of the rise of fascism and Mussolini's feats.

Its existence was uncovered by two classical scholars. Bettina Reitz-Joosse and Han Lamers are the first to translate and study in detail the Codex Fori Mussolini, which, despite being buried at the base of the 300-tonne monument to the power of fascism when it was erected in 1932, has largely been forgotten in the intervening decades.

The 1,200-word eulogy was written by a classical scholar, Aurelio Giuseppe Amatucci, and is in three parts.

The first is a general history of the achievements of fascism and the rise of Mussolini. It describes Italy as on the brink of disaster following World War One only to be rescued by Mussolini, “regenerating the country through his superhuman insight and resoluteness”, said Dr Lamers, who works at Humboldt University Berlin and Catholic University of Leuven.

The second section concerns the Fascist Youth Organisation (the obelisk was being constructed at its headquarters) and youth programmes.

The third part deals with the construction of the Foro Italico - then known as the Foro Mussolini - and the erection of the obelisk.