The subject of this volume is architecture in Italy between the two wars, subdivided into two chronological sections corresponding to the decades 1920-30 and 1930-40.
[Rationalism and architecture in Italy during Fascism] A series of essays and a fine selection of illustrations compose this volume created for the exhibition “Rationalism and architecture in Italy during Fascism” held at the Venice Biennial in 1976. The topic is architecture in Italy between the two world wars, subdivided into two chronological sections corresponding to the decades 1920-30 and 1930-40.
The first section analyzes – considering three “sample” cultural areas, Milan, Turin and Rome – the presence of a culture of the “city” in parallel with the spread of a “rationalist” language. The second is organized in themes – residence, major national competitions, public buildings for the regime, “imperial” Rome and, finally, the territory and new cities – shedding light on the totalizing function of Fascist culture in its practical applications, as the client for works that had to be ideologically representative.