After World War II, prompted by the Allies, Germany underwent an intense de-Nazification program. Not so Italy — there was no equivalent de-fascistization. The country is still filled with buildings and street names that evoke its 20-year dictatorship.
By not challenging the history of these monuments, the memory of fascism has been smoothly integrated into the Italian present.
— NPR
There are at least 1,400 monuments to the Fascist Mussolini regime spread throughout the country. The era's architectural legacy will, in lieu of full-blown removal, be placed in context according to the hopes of local historians and preservationists who say they want to fight back against the notion that fascism also ushered modern architecture into Italy.
This comes at a time when far-right politics are on the rise nationally. Many see parallels to the struggle of U.S. activists to remove Confederate Civil War monuments, which, unlike in Italy, were mostly the product of a bitter 30-year memory war between North and South.
A 2017 New Yorker essay from historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat outlined the contemporary causes succinctly:
“[W]hen Berlusconi brought the right-wing Italian Social Movement Party to power, his rehabilitation of Fascism was aided by an existing network of pilgrimage sites and monuments,” she explained. “In the aughts, as Berlusconi cycled in and out of office, sites like Predappio surged in popularity, and preservationists of all political stripes forged alliances with the empowered right to save the Fascist monuments, which were increasingly seen as an integral part of Italy’s cultural heritage.”
5 Comments
Italy has a special problem. It's not going to forget Rome, nor should it try to. The issue is how they perceive the past, how they perceive its relationship to present day society, the relationship of these to its buildings. It depends, to use a word I've grown to hate, on how the construction is contextualized. And it sounds like they're going the wrong way again.
Much of Italian architecture of this period is nowhere near as oppressive as Nazi. I always thought the Palazzo della Civiltá Italiana was a bald but inoffensive attempt at classicism, silly, even. I'm not alone here. But it grows on you.
It has been used as one setting for the movie of Shakespeare's play Titus.
Which hardly presents a flattering view of power and empire, rather the opposite.
This movie is a hoot.
Street names, other monuments, however, look to present serious problems.
The forced/sly cannibalism scene to name just one!
"Much of Italian architecture of this period is nowhere near as oppressive as Nazi." It would be if the Italian Fascists had done any where near the amount of horrendous things the Nazis did.
As a professional facade engineer, I understand the complexity of the issue surrounding Italy's fascist monuments. It is important to acknowledge the historical significance of these monuments and their impact on the cultural heritage of Italy. However, it is equally important to address the implications of preserving and contextualizing these monuments in the present day.
From a preservation standpoint, it is crucial to document and understand the architecture and design of these monuments, as they represent a significant period in Italian history. Nevertheless, it is also important to recognize the negative legacy of fascism and the harm it caused to many individuals and communities.
Contextualization can be a valuable approach to understanding these monuments and their historical context, but it must be done in a responsible and sensitive manner. Providing educational information and critical analysis of these monuments can help promote a more nuanced understanding of their historical significance, rather than glorifying or romanticizing them.
Furthermore, it is essential to address the political implications of preserving these monuments in the current context of rising far-right politics. The continued presence of fascist monuments may contribute to the normalization of far-right ideologies, which is particularly concerning given Italy's history with fascism.
Ultimately, the decision on what to do with Italy's fascist monuments must be made through careful consideration and engagement with diverse perspectives, including historians, preservationists, community members, and politicians. It is crucial to balance the importance of preserving historical architecture with the responsibility to address the legacy of fascism and its impact on Italy's present and future.
Ceci and her fellow researchers do not call for the destruction of fascist-era monuments. But they want to add explanatory plaques that contextualize their origins. The aim is to promote a reckoning of the legacy of the regime.
"Otherwise," she says, "the message continues to be that fascism brought modernity to the city, hiding the dictatorship, the persecutions, the discriminations and the war."
From the NPR article. Ceci is an Italian historian.
To forget who created these works and why, what lay behind their creations and their words would be the real crime. Forgetting leads to all manner of abuse.
The Palazzo della Civiltá Italiana is not inherently offensive politically. The intent behind it, however, is another matter which needs to be remembered and criticized. Its value esthetically is another matter. It now is headquarters for Fendi fashion house. If Fendi had built the exact same building from scratch a few decades ago, at worst the reaction would have been that it's rather campy.
The inscription that runs around it, "Un popolo di poeti, di artisti, di eroi, di santi, di pensatori, di scienziati, di navigatori, di trasmigratori" ("a nation of poets, of artists, of heroes, of saints, of thinkers, of scientists, of navigators, of migrators") may make some of us wince, but it's not inherently offensive, either. What needs to be remembered is that it came from a Mussolini speech in 1935, what lay behind his words, his belief in the superiority of the Italian race (and the word "race" runs us into all kinds of problems).
Modernism, mysteriously, dovetailed with fascism at this time. That's not an indictment of modernism, but rather a case of false appropriation.
Our discussions always matter. We always get in trouble when we stop talking. And I am dreading what the Italian far right has in store for such work.
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