Bibliography

3.3 - Il Palazzo della Civilta’ Italiana

The second example of prime Fascist architecture which will be analysed is the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana (PDCI). Constructed in 1938 as part of the EUR complex; a world fair trade where Mussolini was to display the official style of the Fascist regime. However, the start of the war left the plans unfinished until 1960 when the quarter was completed and re branded into a sports and business district. The structure’s design is an “abstract, modern stylization of the main architectural features of Roman architecture” (Jones and Pilat, 2020) with strong neo-classical roots it was positioned in the approximate vicinity of an ancient Roman archaeological site and purposefully designed to connect with the Roman empire and recall their strength and control over the Mediterranean as symbolism for the Fascist strength: “A constructed mythology that evoked Italy’s ancient heritage allowed the Fascist regime to justify its violence as a noble attempt to return to the glories of former Rome.” (Jones and Pilat, 2020) Having successfully achieved this. The PDCI is often referred to as the “square Colosseum” which is no surprise given the 4 identical façades composed of 216 arches deeply emblematic of classical Roman architecture. However, given the structure was built as a statement of Fascist innovation, beauty and greatness, it makes conservation of the heritage very challenging, especially when abiding to The Venice Charter since fascism is deeply embedded in both the tangible and intangible elements; the physical and semantic.

Firstly, the structure wears an inscription on the front facade of the building, quoting an extract from Mussolini’s speech before the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 where war crimes were committed by the Italian army. Secondly, the neoclassical style, as previously mentioned, assimilates Fascism with the greatness of the Roman empire. Lastly, the arches are displayed in a six by nine grid, representing the number of letters in “Benito Mussolini”. Not only the Fascist symbolism is very evident, but also impossible to remove through intervention given its deep relationship with the architectural form itself. Therefore any attempt at doing so would have detrimental impacts on the Authenticity, Integrity, Architectural, Historical and Aesthetic values. Therefore a different approach to conservation must be taken then the Casa del Fascio. This mainly considers indirect intervention used to change the meaning of the building and its symbolism without physically altering the architecture. This came through the form of literally re branding the symbolism through a new purpose/use: Article 5 of The Venice Charter “The conservation of monuments is always facilitated by making use of them for some socially useful purpose. Such use is therefore desirable but it must not change the lay-out or decoration of the building.” (Gazzola and Lemaire, 1964)

Figure 6 - Palazzo della Civilta’ Italiana front Facade - Meroni, A, 2022

Nowadays, the heritage houses the fashion brand Fendi’s headquarters, as an attempt to conserve the architectural importance of the heritage by attempting to disguise the original meaning of the building. Fendi has adopted parallel symbolism of itself with the PDCI forms to distract from the original symbolism. Therefore, it can be argued that Fendi is attempting to change the cultural value of the heritage into a symbol of high fashion by taking advantage of its inherent Aesthetic Value through its arches, rhythm, shadows and grandioseness, as a backdrop for Fendi’s publicity campaigns. Essentially capitalising on the architecture. Therefore, there is a very strong Economic Value which the conservation of PDCI has brought through the re branding of the building into a capitalist symbol. Furthermore, before Fendi adopted the space, the structure was left vacant for the majority of 7 decades since WW2 hence the re purposing of the structure provided the heritage with a Function Value which, for the vast majority of the building’s life, never had. Thus, the conservation has seen the increase of Economic, Function and Resilience Values without a compromise of any other values. Additionally, the restraint from physically removing fascist symbolism and instead deterring the attention away from them has consolidated the Authenticity, Architectural, Integrity and educational value and complied with Article 8 and 5 of The Venice Charter.

To conclude, there isn’t one specific way to practice conservation of heritage, but rather, as seen through the case studies, by firstly analysing the Values of the heritage one can then make an informed decision on why the monument is significant and what should be prioritised during its conservation. This is extremely important when the conservation of heritage with a controversial past is in question. However, As the Casa del Fascio showed, often it is impossible to simultaneously embrace all the values of a structure and compromises to the Authenticity and Integrity of the structure had to be sacrificed in order to put the Architectural form at the forefront above its Fascist ideologies. Furthermore, conservation does not necessarily involve physical or tangible changes to the architecture. Through the Palazzo della Civilta’ Italiana, no noticeable tangible changes were conducted to the façades or interiors. Instead the conservation adopted a more subtle approach where the intangible, semantic qualities of the building were changed. This was achieved through the careful re purpose under the brand Fendi which successfully re branded the strong fascist symbolism into a statement of luxury, high fashion and capitalism. Given the constant struggle for fighting for a cleaner, greener earth, it is crucial we recycle buildings whenever possible; but this cannot be limited to architecture which we agree with. Demolition of controversial heritage not only is an unsustainable practice, but it seeks to erase history and hide the mistakes of the past, damaging society’s understanding of history as well as our ability to learn from the past. Therefore, as discussed, not only is it possible to practise a conscious and culturally aware conservation of controversial heritage, but the most efficient way to remove stigma over a building is by providing it with a new identity through purpose.

6 - Bibliography 6.2 Figures

Figure 1 - Figure 1 - protesters toppled a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston and pushed the figure into the River Avon. - Reuters, 2020.

Figure 2 - Meroni, a., 2022. Colston’s Statue in the M-Shed. [image].

Figure 3 - Natalizia, S., 2015. La Facciata. [image] Available at: <https://www.istantidibellezza.it/il-palazzo-della-civilta-italiana.html> [Accessed 15 December 2021].

Figure 4 - La Casa del Fascio, Como, front Facade - Meroni, A, 2022

Figure 5 - Palazzo della Civilta’ Italiana arch proportions- Meroni, A, 2022

Figure 6 - Palazzo della Civilta’ Italiana front Facade - Meroni, A, 2022

figure 7 - Fendi, 2020. Una nuova Roma. [image] Available at: <https://mvcmagazine. com/en/fendi-choose-rome-for-their-next-fashion-show/> [Accessed 16 December 2021].

6.1 - References

Ben-Ghiat, R., 2017. Why Are So Many Fascist Monuments Still Standing in Italy?. The New Yorker, [online] Available at: <https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/why-areso-many-fascist-monuments-still-standing-in-italy> [Accessed 10 November 2021].

Branscome, E., 2021. Colston’s Travels, or Should We Talk About Statues?. ARENA Journal of Architectural Research, [online] 6(1). Available at: <https://ajar.arena-architecture.eu/ articles/10.5334/ajar.261/>.

Gazzola, P. and Lemaire, R., 1964. INTERNATIONAL CHARTER FOR THE CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION OF MONUMENTS AND SITES (THE VENICE CHARTER 1964). In: International Council on Monuments and Sites. Venice: ICOMS, pp.1-3.

Jones, K. and Pilat, S., 2020. The Routledge companion to Italian Fascist architecture. 1st ed. London: Routledge.

Macbeth, A., 2018. Four civilizations in Italy that pre-date the Roman Empire. [online] The Local. Available at: <https://www.thelocal.it/20180911/four-civilizations-in-italy-that-predate-the-roman-empire/> [Accessed 10 December 2021].

Taher Tolou Del, M., Saleh Sedghpour, B. and Kamali Tabrizi, S., 2020. The semantic conservation of architectural heritage: the missing values. Heritage Science, [online] 8(1). Available at: <https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-02000416-w#citeas>.

Taylor, J. and Cassar, M., 2008. REPRESENTATION AND INTERVENTION: THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP OF CONSERVATION AND VALUE. Studies in Conservation, 53(sup1), pp.7-11.

Igi-global.com. n.d. What is Architectural Heritage | IGI Global. [online] Available at: <https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/architectural-heritage/48665> [Accessed 18 November 2021].