The critically acclaimed 6 hour Italian movie La Meglio Gioventu (The Best of Youth) features two brothers, one of which is named Nicola. He's the reliable thread that holds the whole thing together.
Cola or Nicola di Rienzi was an Italian revolutionary in the Middle Ages who tried to re-establish the Roman Republic in the city of Rome. Failed in the end. Subject of a novel by Bulwer-Lytonn and early opera by Wagner. Hitler saw a production in Germany in which swastikas were part of the pageantry in the ballet segue and this is how the Nazis got the idea of using it as their symbol.