There has always been something strange about the enduring popularity of architecture erected during the 21-year period of fascist rule in Italy. This is particularly true for Rationalism, the Italian variant of the Modern movement. The architects who enthusiastically worked on behalf of the regime include many of the most important Italian designers of the last century, among them Gio Ponti, Marcello Piacentini, Angiolo Mazzoni, Luigi Moretti, Adalberto Libera, Ignazio Gardella, Pier Luigi Nervi, and, above all, Giuseppe Terragni, who produced the iconic work of Italian Rationalism, the Casa del Fascio in Como.
The appreciation for fascist-era Italian architecture is even more pronounced in the countries colonized and occupied during the 1930s and ’40s. Preservation movements in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Albania actively seek to safeguard the heritage of architecture built by Italian colonial authorities. In Eritrea, the country’s president committed substantial state resources to the successful effort to inscribe the Italian-built center of the capital, Asmara, on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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