Abstract
Large-scale wetland reclamations of the middle of the twentieth century are usually described mainly as agricultural and technical success stories. They also however had a large symbolic value. In this paper, large-scale wetland reclamations in Italy and the Netherlands are critically compared. Both were modernist projects and carried a high ideological charge. As symbols for national recovery and national pride in a period of crisis, both were intensively documented by journalists, writers, film-makers. Both also show an interesting mixture of economic and utopian aspirations and a combination of both modernist and traditionalist styles of planning. In both countries, the polders were planned to the smallest details by the national planning agencies. In Italy, these polders show Fascist ideals, whereas in the Netherlands they reflect the ideas and values of a 'pillarised' society.
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