geseppi terragni built alot of architecture in the city of como, italy
(casa del facsio) excellent piece -- all i know about that place is that it usto be the facsist headquarters - i went there last summer if you need pics i have them along with about 6 other terragni buildings

Start with Frampton's 'Modern Architecture' chapter on Terragni and Italian Rationalism, then use his Bibliography as a map to other sources.

And here's one out of left field: Tung's "Preserving the World's Great Cities" has a chapter on Mussolini's willful reinterpretation of Rome's architectural legacy, reworking the physical city in order to more clearly associate himself with the imperial past and borrow its authority.

Eisenman's new-ish BIG book on Terragni may give you some glimpses into what you're looking for, but I think it's more focused on formal manipulations. Maybe in an introduction or something.

Look up Diane Ghirardo

Terragni's architectural position in relate to political regime is quite similar to Albert Speer of Nazi. However, one is using Modern architecture as a representation of new power, and other chose to return to neo classical... If i remember correctly Terragni was a part of Gruppo 7 (group of seven), a young italian rationalist architects in that time.. if you are interested in the relationship between architecture and politic (Fascist in this case)... you use take a look at EUR (bunch of governmental and institutional buildings which were built durring the ww ii... and Terragi's Danteum was supoose to built there...

Off from my lousy memory, Terragni was political/ aesthetically inspired by Italian Futurist.. in term that there need to be an violent revolution in order to change the society.. however, he was so attached and proud w/ italian culture... so rather than just become an abstraction architecture.. he argued that architect must carry on an essence from tradition which in his case is 'proportion'... and the character of space will be lighter and cleaner yet.. the proportion could carry on...

anyway, you find stuff from Ciucci, Giorgio's writting he is a master of history in Modern Italian Architecture.. and honestly avoid Eisenman's book.. it will just harm you.

here are a few others by an old prof of mine, thomas schumacher >>

the danteum: a study in the architecture of literature
giuseppe terragni
surface and symbol: giuseppe terragni and the architecture of italian rationalism
L'immagine della ragione: La Casa del Fascio di Giuseppe Terragni, 1932-1936

"The Wikianos Supermarket, favourite among the expats, has a kind of upside-down effect, with a rounded corner and a lower balcony with a sharply angled roof. It was designed by the famous rationalist architect Guiseppe Terragni."

e- the surface and symbol book was good very thorough on background info. cool that schumacher was a prof of yours.
- Eisenman's book- huge and he worked on it for years and it a as big glo$$y one- hasn;t helped at all really- in fact puzzeled me because, though i can understand a formal analysis of T's work, i don't see how a book of that size can not address at least once, politics. ( i don;t even think mussolini is in the index...) perhaps the most important remaining work of his - was builtFor a reason. i did find an old issue of Quadrante(c.1936) with T's writting on his own work- which in a mix of conviction and diplomacy toes the party line. I read italian, and am able to grab some stuff we have that my prof. will only know in translation... yiiihaw. i get a kick out oof that
thank you all for suggestions - K Framp. i went to him first, but if we're talking ab the same book- there was only 2 pgs on T.
Harbison( reading for the 1st time) had very interesting things to say in his book 13 ways. - by the way anyone familiare with him? he also did 'built/unbuilt/unbuildable' but 13 is a lovely book.
- am also trying to present venturi's duckie argument ... wich may or may not be a very bad idea...
- I've unfortunately a prof. who is more comfortable with the microscopic than the macro- An arthist. class where he want you to write pgs&pgs on Velasquez's toenails....- i think he's not going to like even the premise of this paper- screw him- this just means i will have to write a brilliant one.....

Angel thank you- beautiful....
oooo i luv rationalist arch. the dreamy italians imported int'l style a bit late, and couldn't quite bring themselves to break w tradition...which is i guesse the drawback of living with the rome, venice etc ... the poor bastards....
italian men like to cry.. any thoughts on that?..

c, schumacher's history exams were crazy. his exams were multiple choice. easy huh? nope. there was the possibillity of multiple answers for each question. for each answer you circled correctly, you got a point. for each you circled wrong, you were deducted a half of a point. if he didn't grade on a curve most would have failed.

The Frampton I'm looking at, 1985 edition, peppers Terragni throughout a chapter of seven pages - he's the thematic heart of it. The bibliography on this chapter cites 32 sources, including Schumacher, Benevolo, Kostof, Zevi, and Danesi.

As Kadam-F says above and Reyner Banham noted in "Theory and Design in the First Machine Age" (very short references), Terragni's work is "to some extent a conscious assumption of the mantle of Sant'Elia, but couched in the established idiom of the International Style that had been created in other countries."