Before World War II, Italy, Germany, and America employed a modern architectural style in many of their buildings. This signified the Western world’s shift in a modern direction. During World War II, Italy took a different path from Nazi Germany and America. The Nazis and Americans shifted their architectural styles away from the modern style to neoclassical, while Fascist Italy promoted sleek, minimalistic modern buildings. America and Nazi Germany adopted neoclassical architecture to show that the state was returning to the past. The architecture presented an authoritarian narrative that proposed the state to be a traditional part of the nation’s history. After the Great Depression and during World War II, Italy’s commissioned projects differed in architectural style compared to Germany and America. The Fascist government utilized the futurist art movement and the rationalist architecture in its modern buildings. The implementation of modern architecture in Italy often had monumentalism attributed to its very foundation. When examining Italy’s choice of modern architecture, it is clear what ideologies the state was conveying to individuals. Fascist Italy adopted a modernist architectural style as an interpretation of futurism, rationalism, pragmatism, and monumentalism as a way to show prosperity and progress within the Italian State.

Futurism was a movement that showed people the progress the state was enacting through the transition towards modern architecture. Futurism was an artistic movement from before the fascist party, which emphasized speed, progress, and getting rid of the old. Fascist Italy embraced futurism to distance the state from the old ways of the past and placed an emphasis on the future progress of the fascist party. Marinetti, the founder of futurism, believed that basking in the past was a waste of “strength in a useless admiration of the past”.[1] He believed that delving into the past wasted the minds of the youth. Futurism asserted that those who had aged were to go out and face the future. Futurism looked at all forms of art, including architecture. The movement emphasized destroying and moving past the classical architectural styles, wholly embracing modern architecture. For fascism, the futurist movement was a propagandistic ideology which presented “a revolutionary narrative and aesthetic”.[2] Even though the futurist movement was from the past, fascist Italy adopted the movement to easily present progress and change. The avant-garde nature of the movement provided a stark difference from the classical works produced decades prior. The adoption of futurism by Fascist Italy promised change through the promotion of modernist architecture.

Rationalism was a belief adopted into architecture by the fascist party. Rationalism is the belief that actions should be thought and enacted with reason and logic in mind. Mussolini’s doctrine of fascism had an emphasis on relying on logic as a basis for further fascist ideology. Mussolini believed that the state was an organism. That organism follows a certain philosophy from “a system of logical contraction”.[3] With the baseline of a logical system, the leaders of the party could clearly create goals that addressed issues plaguing Italy. By creating a clear goal for the state, it created a clear direction for the state to move forward towards. It showed citizens that the state knew what it was doing and that it could be trusted with that decision. Rationalism was a system that created individuals fully devoted to the state. It is through this logical framework that Mussolini enacted changes to architecture to reflect the new direction of fascism.

In order for rationalism to be an idea the Italian people followed, it needed to be reflected in the public spaces people saw and interacted with daily. The architecture and buildings reflect a shift towards rationalist architecture. The facade of the Venice Biennale Italia’s change in architectural style is an example of this change. The facade commissioned in 1914 featured a “neo-Renaissance style”, adorned with Corinth columns, marble, and a large relief of a lion.[4] In comparison, the 1934 commissioned facade “replaced the detailed portico with simple, clean lines”.[5] The facade transformed from an ornate set piece with ties back to Italy’s Renaissance architecture to a minimalistic, sleek, and linear form. The new architectural form the facade adopted was a realization of rationalism, exhibiting reason and logic through shape and simplicity. The transition of the architecture represented the state’s shift in ideology to act more rationally. When people saw the new pieces of architecture, it showed people the visual change the state was undergoing. It produced confidence in what the state could enact through rationalism. Rationalist architecture was a style Fascist Italy used to convey a simple message: that the state was creating change and that it knew what it was doing.

Rationalism and pragmatism are two beliefs closely related to one another. Pragmatism was the ideology of the state that adopted sensible solutions to problems. If rationalism was the ideology and the intent behind the architecture, pragmatism was the enactment of that intent. Pragmatism was a necessary part of Fascist propaganda to ensure that the party stayed in power. Mussolini believed that doctrine “should be an act of life and not an academy of words".[6] It was one thing for fascism to be an ideology, but as an organism, it was important that it acted upon those words to show action. When the state claimed to have reasonable and logical solutions, the state’s pragmatic ideology fulfilled those solutions.

The fascist state used concrete as a symbol through the framework of pragmatism. In comparison to other building methods, concrete creates structures in a much faster time, leaving a smooth finish. Concrete is a perfect representative of pragmatism, creating urban spaces with efficiency and minimalistic finishes. This is seen through the construction of anti-cities like Sabaudia, cities which represented the “permanence and immobility” of the state.[7] The use of concrete in this situation created solid structures that the people could rely on. Concrete was a physical display of pragmatism to showcase the fascist ideology of rationalism.

Concrete was not just a pragmatic symbol for creation, but also a new slate for the future. A major project the fascist party enacted was the erasure of architecture by using concrete. Mussolini ordered a project over the course of five years to urbanize Italy. One notable outcome of this project was that “acres of asphalt [were] poured over the remains of the great Roman forums to make a new ‘Avenue of the Empire”.[8] The creation of new asphalt, and by proxy new land, signified a state that was moving past Italy’s prior history, architecture, and buildings. The asphalt showed that the government had a clear intent in mind for their public spaces and cities. The new avenue would allow for grander public works and government programs to be built. The blank blacktop provided people with the assurance that the state had the ability to enact change, which would help them in their daily lives. In this case, concrete was a pragmatic solution to erase old projects and enact new ones. Pragmatism allowed for efficient solutions, which created physical proof of progress, creating trust in the government for enacting programs and national efforts.

Italy used monumentalism as a way to assert dominance over the Italian people. Monumentalism was an idea that created large architectural works which conveyed feelings of overwhelming power and influence the Fascist Party held over Italy. Mussolini wanted to be known as “the greatest builder Rome had ever known”, rivaling that of Emperor Augustus.[9] Mussolini wanted to build works so large and glorious in scale that they rivaled buildings synonymous with Italy, like the Colosseum or the Pantheon. Mussolini’s emphasis on architectural scale was an interpretation of how the state must take priority. Mussolini intended for his works to “outlast all other Roman monuments as an emblem of fascist force and virility”.[10] The sheer scale of those buildings created a connection between individuals and the state, which placed the state as a strongman who can serve and protect the individual citizen. This created a deeper trust in the government that, in turn, produced widespread support. When citizens engaged with the massive buildings, they were subjected to the power and influence of the state, and this created a basis of trust in fascism. Monumentality was an important part of fascist architecture, representing the power and strength of the state.

Fascist Italy implemented a modern architectural style to show the Italian people that the Fascist party knew what it was doing. Rationalism created a clean architectural style that visually changed the architecture. Concrete and asphalt were pragmatic solutions to rationalist ideology, giving the fascist state the ability to create and erase desired parts of Italy. Monumentality presented the state as a protector that the people could rely on due to the sheer scale of buildings. Futurism focused on speed and movement, which the state used through architecture to promote progress through the state through the acceptance of modern architecture. Fascist Italy adopted a multitude of architectural and art styles, which gave patronage to many artists. The adoption of multiple different styles set Italy apart from the more realist and romanticized art movements of Germany and the US. Akin to the Renaissance period of the past, Italy became a hub for art and styles, adopting and showcasing styles fitting for Fascist Italy.