The Political Content in Italian Architecture during the Fascist Era

Abstract

The relationship between architecture and politics, and in particular, the relationship between Rationalist architecture and politics, is one of the dominant themes of the literature devoted to Italian architecture between the First and Second World Wars. One of the earliest postwar accounts of modern architecture in Italy, Giulia Veronesi's Difficolta politiche dell' architettura in Italia 1920–1940, was devoted largely to a discussion of this theme. Bruno Zevi's Storia dell' architettura moderna included a section describing the attempt of progressive architects in Italy to integrate political and architectural ideologies.