The same happened with other projects that had come to a standstill because of the financial crisis the country had suffered. The crisis was not resolved until Balbo came to the helm, having been granted extensive powers, bolstered by an exorbitant budget from Mussolini. Balbo set out to make Tripoli into a civilization to rival the European civilizations, and he made the grand openings of these tourist hotels and cultural projects into an occasion to invite the beauties of the silver screen and theatre from around the world. Houriya had obviously distanced herself from anything that might disturb her happiness with the Marshal. So the gossip articles and photographs in star-studded magazines all talked about affairs that didn’t exist as far as Houriya was concerned. She simply didn’t read
