Description
Book SynopsisDuring the fascist years in Italy, architecture and politics enjoyed a close alliance. Benito Mussolini used architecture to educate the masses, exploiting its symbolic prowess as a powerful tool for achieving political consensus.
Mussolini, Architect examines Mussolini in Italy from 1922 to 1943 and expands the traditional interpretations of fascism, advancing the claim that Mussolini devised and implemented architecture as a tool capable of determining public behaviour and influencing opinion. Paolo Nicoloso challenges the assertion that Mussolini was of minimal influence on Italian architecture and argues that in fact the fascist leader played a strong role in encouraging civic architectural development in order to reflect the totalitarian values of the period. Drawing on archival documents, Nicoloso lists the architects who gave Mussolini ideas and describes the times when the dictator himself sometimes picked up a pencil and suggested changes.
Examining the
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Chapter One: Travelling to See the Buildings The Myth of the Duce as an Inaugurator Building and Fighting Buildings Built to "Endure" In the City Where Fascism Was Born Architects in the Dictator’s Entourage Chapter Two: Mussolini’s Rome The Third Rome Demolishing “with No Holds Barred" The Alert Eye Visits to Building Sites in Rome Architecture and the Legacy of Fascism Rome, "Kingdom of the Unexpected" Rome and Berlin: Parallel Action The North-South Imperial Axis Chapter Three: At Palazzo Venezia The Success of the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution Restoring Augustus Doubts about Terragni The Rejection of Brasini’s Grandiose Architecture Mussolini’s Oversights Architecture for a Politics of Domination Ponti’s Suggestions “Rendering unto Caesar What Is Caesar’s” Moretti instead of Piacentini? Chapter Four: In the Architect’s Shoes The Duce Approves The Man with the Diktats With Pencil in Hand Advising the Architects Zigzagging Forward “I’m an Expert on Architecture” Chapter Five: Piacentini and Mussolini The Architect of the Littorian Order A Special Rapport Committed to the Party Side by Side In Praise of Organizational Perseverance Chapter Six: Architecture Towards a Style In Rome’s Città Universitaria “Life Today” Requires a "Unity of Direction" in Architecture, Too The E42 and the Matter of Style The Swing Towards Classicism At the E42 “History is Built” Terragni’s Challenge, Pagano’s Silence, Bottai’s Dissent Chapter Seven: The Totalitarian Acceleration and Architecture Architecture for the Myths of the Totalitarian State Piacentini’s Architectural Unity For Imperial Rome The 1941 "Variante" of Rome's Urban Development Plan Hitler’s Plan for Imperial Berlin For Imperial Milan A National “Unity of Direction” A Private Monopoly in a Totalitarian Regime Conclusion Index of Names and Subjects Index of Places
