It was established by the
Fascist government in 1922 as the
Press Office of the Presidency of the Council, before being renamed to
Press Office of the Head of Government in 1925. In 1934 it became the
Secretariat for Press and Propaganda. It became a ministry in 1935 and was given its definitive designation in 1937. During its existence, it controlled most of the literary and radio channels in Italy. It was the Italian analogue of the German
Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. The Ministry financed various Fascist publications, including
La Difesa della Razza.{{cite book|year=2011 |author=Francesco Cassata|title=Building the New Man: Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy|publisher=Central European University Press|url=http://books.openedition.org/ceup/697 The Ministry was officially suppressed by the Kingdom of Italy on 3 July 1944, having remained vacant ever since the overthrow of
Benito Mussolini in the
25 Luglio coup a year earlier. During the
Italian Social Republic, Mussolini revived the Ministry of Popular Culture and appointed Ferdinando Mezzasoma as its head. ==List of ministers==