 cultural, commercial, etc., of the islands with the country" and they propose "respect for the choice of the children and recognition of their right to learn the language they want and especially the Italian as it's the language with the greatest preference on the Ionian Islands".These cultural remnants of the Venetian period were the pretext of Mussolini's desire to incorporate the Ionian Islands into the Kingdom of Italy.Even before the outbreak of World War II and the Greek-Italian War, Mussolini had expressed his wish to annex the Ionian Islands as part of his wider plans for an Italian Empire centered around the Mediterranean Sea.