The book "Fiume or Death" tells the adventurous story of the city of Fiume, captured on September 12, 1919 by the legendary warrior poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938) and his small private army. Throughout his 15-month reign over the city, Gabriele D'Annunzio indulges in a radically archaic mysticism. In his colorful script, D'Annunzio connects the living Roman tradition with modernist-decadent hedonism and gives rise to a web of proto-fascist sentiments. Between the tramp of boots of proud legionnaires and the Mediterranean “dolce life”, a stormy triumph of Mars and Eros takes place - life triumphs as a complete work of art. In the constitution developed by D'Annunziodl Fiume, aesthetics is declared law. Artists, adventurers, intellectuals and soldiers dance their last dance in the blood-red light of sunset in a dying city.