Casa del Fascio: architecture as an expression of political Ideology

CASA DEL FASCIO : ARCHITECTURE AS AN EXPRESSION OF POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

“ We must not remain solely contemplative. We must not simply exploit our cultural heritage. We must create a new heritage to place alongside that of antiquity. We must create a new art, an art of our times: a Fascist art”. declared Mussolini to the students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia in 1926.

From very early on, Mussolini quickly understood the potential of an “aestheticization of politics”, of using art as a means to express the fascist ideology and therefore reinforce it. Along with the cult of personality (“Il Duce”) and propaganda posters, art was another means to convey the power and strength of the State. From this declaration we can retain two main objectives: create something new, a “modern” style completely different from what existed before, something adapted to its time while inspired by the heritage of the “glorious past” (Antiquity & Renaissance mostly). In the realm of architecture, this would happen with the construction of institutions built for the fascist regime in various Italian cities.

Among them, “Case del Fascio”, were of the most symbolic importance. Those “Houses of Fascism” were used as headquarters, office buildings for the local actions of the party. Mussolini characterised fascism as “a glass house into which all can look”,1 the idea being its institutions were built for the people, in the core of the cities, the closest possible to traditional monuments. They needed (in theory) to always be accessible to the public.

Meanwhile, in Italy, a new group of young architects started to emerge. In 1927, Gruppo 7 (which became “Il Movimento Italiano per l’Architettura Razionale” in 1930) was founded, among its most famous members were Adalberto Libera and Giuseppe Terragni. Calling themselves “Rationalists”, they were mostly interested in the spatial form of architecture. They advocated a new architecture, a new national style in opposition to the “Novecento Italiano” (Neoclassicism), being mindful of the past but not trying to copy it. They were mostly influenced by the ideas of modernism developed by Le Corbusier but thought it needed to have an Italian specificity to it. Therefore, they shared some common ground with the fascist ideals and identified themselves with the party. However, even by the end of the 30’s, the fascist party hadn't determined a particular style of architecture.

One project, in particular, went on to become the most vivid incarnation of Italian Rationalism: the Casa del Fascio in Cuomo by architect Giuseppe Terragni built in 1936. Taking this example as a case study and given the strong ties between fascism and rationalism, one question comes to mind: can the Casa del Fascio be considered an architectural expression of fascist ideology, and if so, what makes it fascist?

In order to respond, I will start by trying to understand how the fascist and the rationalist ideologies shared similar values by analysing their respective texts and manifestoes. I will explore more in depth the role and political position of Giuseppe Terragni in order to comprehend his intentions in relation to architecture.

Then, I’ll focus on Terragni’s drawings and texts about the construction, I’ll try to determine how the project has evolved between the early sketches and the final building, Afterwards, I will proceed to an analysis of the building itself, with the help of texts from Terragni 's published in Quadrante and essays written by architects.

This will allow me to determine if it has successfully met the criteria established by the fascist party and therefore determine what makes the building fascist or if it can even be fascist.

1. Enrico Mantero, “Giuseppe Terragni e la citta del razionalismo italiano”, (Edizioni Dedalo, 1969), p.131.

RATIONALISM vs NEOCLASSICISM Although today, rationalism is widely considered as the architecture of fascism in Italy, this wasn't so clear at the time. During the 30's in Italy a debate started to arise between the two prevailing architectural movements; the rationalist movement of Gruppo 7 and the neoclassicists, represented by the “Novecento Italiano” group. This conflict was mostly covered by national newspapers, and the polemic really peaked with the construction of the Casa del Fascio in Cuomo. Some accused Terragni's building of plagiarising two other previous modernist buildings: the Vesna Housewife School in Brno by Fuchs and the Asylum for Elders in Kassel by Haesler2. Although their buildings were somewhat similar in terms of aesthetics, those two architects later denied any wrongdoing on Terragni's part and recognised the “modernist spirit” 3 that linked their designs. This debate allowed for a better international recognition of rationalism, no longer limited to Italy's borders. The conflict between neoclassicists and rationalists then evolved into a series of arguments in which each group tried to be the most attractive as possible to get the official endorsement of the fascist party.

According to the neoclassicists, Fascism looked back to ancient Rome as a period of strength, a period of nationalistic pride for Italy. Most of the architecture produced at that time can be considered as classical Roman architecture. Therefore, by recalling “the ancient triumphant”, it seemed only logical that neoclassicism should be adopted as the new architectural style to represent the regime. However, this could be argued because of the very nature of the fascist ideology. Fascism claimed to be a modern movement with a clear intention of breaking away from the past. Therefore, there would be no point in trying to infuse the fascist discourse into buildings that were mere copies of ancient structures using the same old schemes.

Neoclassicists tried to argue that neoclassicism would be a new form of classicism, and thus be different. But with such subtle nuances, it would be hard for the everyday people to recognise a “fascist” building among others.

On the other hand, the rationalists believed fascism needed a new architectural style, its own style. A “fascist” building should be recognisable at first glance, it should be easily identifiable. Therefore the break away from the past would have to happen within the architecture itself, through a reinvention of values. 4 The buildings themselves should be able to embody the fascist ideology, just like Mussolini's speeches. Inspired by modernist buildings from all over Europe, rationalists were also very keen on using the modern technology, new materials, new constructions techniques in order to create a very distinctive style (very different from what was built in a rather conservative Italy at the time). This will be especially the case with the Casa del Fascio in Cuomo.

Secondly, the fascist movement strongly advocated the concepts of grandeur and monumentality. This comforted the neoclassicists into believing their architectural movement was the best fit for the regime. 5 This argument seemed to be in the continuity of the reference to the “glorious past”, when buildings were meant to be monumental, purposely built at a very large scale. By representing fascism this way, with a display of strength and power, architecture would be helpful in conveying a sense of respect to the population more than any kind of rationalist building could. This was widely criticised by the rationalists who found their interpretation of monumentality to be too literal and simplistic.

For the rationalists, while the concept of monumentality might have to do with size or visual impact in the past, this was no longer the case. They believed in something more subtle and sophisticated. To them, the monumentality conveyed by a building would come from its function, structure, materials and overall architecture rather than its size.6 The rationalists saw monumentality more as a metaphor, depicted by a strict and regular architectural composition. In that sense, they were expressing the ideas of the Modern style. To represent the fascist ideology, modern materials like glass could be used to convey a sense of transparency and stability at the same time.7 2. Giorgio Ciucci, “Giuseppe Terragni: Opera completa”, (Casa Editrice Electa, 1996), p.175.

3. Ibid., p. 178.

4. Mantero, op. cit., p.148.

5. Thomas Schumacher, “Surface & Symbol: Giuseppe Terragni and the Architecture of Italian Rationalism”, (Princeton Architectural Press, 1991), p.23.

6. Mantero, op. cit., p.14 7. Giovanna d'Amia, “Giuseppe Terragni: oltre il razionalismo - beyond rationalism”, (Enzo Pifferi Editore, 2003), p.64.

Finally, neoclassicists argued that the inspirations of the rationalism movement were inappropriate because of the ideological conflict between modernism (their main source) and fascism. They considered rationalism to be a cheap copy of modernism. Modernism advocated standardisation and believe in the globalisation of architecture, the idea that any building could be built anywhere. This was completely in contradiction with the will for a national character of architecture promoted by the fascist party. The modernist movement also has strong ties to the newly emerging art movements at the time. Expressionism and Cubism were strongly repressed by the fascist regime.8 Gruppo 7 and the rationalists had, therefore, to define themselves to sound the most appealing to the fascist movement. They adopted the contemporary spirit of the modern movement while trying to remove the “unsuitable elements” of modernism from their speech. Although they never acknowledged taking inspiration from the futurist movement, the rationalist movement always ambiguously implied some kind of connection between the two.9 Originating in Italy, the futuristic movement had a strong nationalist character advocated for a new architecture adapted to the needs of the modern society, inspired by movement, speed, youth, technology, etc. An architecture of its time not meant to last. Therefore, it shared a lot of common ground with fascism and, because of its hatred for everything old, strongly opposed the neoclassicist movement. The whole dilemma of rationalism was to keep to a modernist style without completely removing all the national characteristics out of the architecture.

TERRAGNI Trying to understand Terragni's personality and his intentions is not an easy task but is nonetheless key in order to comprehend how the Casa del Fascio was designed. Born in 1904, in a family of masonry contractors, Terragni studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and graduated in 1926. He founded Gruppo 7 with some friends, establishing the basis for a rationalist architecture promoting a “new modernist spirit”. Then, he settled in Cuomo, creating his office with his engineer brother. Seduced by the ideals of fascism, he later became a member of the party and started being commissioned to design buildings. Most of them were built around Cuomo during the 30's, the most famous one remaining the “Casa del Fascio”. Willing to defend his country and the ideals of the regime, Terragni went to war in 1939 where he was injured and eventually died of its wounds in 1943 at the age of 39.

According to Thomas L. Schumacher, Terragni was a “utopian fascist“ in the sense that he really believed in the ideas promoted by the fascist ideology, he adds about Terragni's life: “He lived and died believing in Christ and Fascism”.10 Marciano also describes the architect's life as dedicated to an architectural utopia: “He dedicates his existence to architecture. believes since the beginning in a mythical form of civil and democratic fascism, synonymous with cultural evolution”.1 1 On the other hand, an author like d'Amia argues that he was actually a bit more opportunistic. He was mostly playing the political games of the fascist party in order to design buildings the way he wanted to. 12 What remains very clear though is that he had his very own vision of how architecture should be made and nobody could change his mind. Although seduced and maybe even manipulated to some extent by the promise of the fascist ideal, Terragni remained a free spirit, even sometimes departing from the ideas of Gruppo 7. He knew that politics and architecture were two different things but that one could be used in service of the another. The fascist party provided him with work and projects and, he, on the other hand, provided the party with buildings reflecting the power of fascism.

Instead of a formal display of propaganda and posters, he believed in a more subtle representation of politics.

The politic ideology should inhabit the whole building not just simply the façade. His take on monumentality was of a similar fashion. He didn't think that by playing with scale, size and visual archetypes of grandeur, he would be sending the proper message the fascist regime wanted to convey through architecture. Therefore, while designing the Casa del Fascio in Cuomo, Terragni appeared to be particularly stubborn in spite of the party's demands and getting the project's approval proved to be a very long process.

8. Ciucci, op. cit., p.10 9. Schumacher, op. cit., p.22.

10. Ibid., p.48.

11. Ada Francesca Marciano, “Giuseppe Terragni, opera completa 1925-1943”, (Officina Edizioni, 2008), p. 11.

12. D'Amia, op. cit., p.14

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CASA DEL FASCIO With the fame gained from designing the Sala O for the Great Fascist Revolution Exhibition (a highly propagandistic project glorifying the fascist regime) in 1932, Terragni is later commissioned the same year to design the new offices hosting the local actions of the fascist party in Cuomo: a “Casa del Fascio”.

Everything is decided in a very short period of time, but with total freedom in terms of design. Indeed, his brother was the “podestà” (the fascist mayor) of Cuomo at the time of construction. As Ghirardo argues: “His freedom in the design of the Casa rested on his unimpeachable political standing as well as the political power of his brother”.13 The construction is approved in April 1933, scheduled to end within eighteen months, although everything is not settled yet in terms of materials. In May, Balzarini, a company specialised in reinforced concrete, is chosen among twenty others to supervise the construction of the concrete structure, the slabs, the exterior walls, partitions walls, doors, windows, and paint. In July, the main structure was designed and calculated with the help of engineers Renato Uslenghi and Terragni's brother, Attilio. Everything is determined by form and material resistance. Eight months later, the reinforced concrete structure is completely built.

In March 1934, the walls filling the voids of the structure and the partition walls are ready to be installed when some new element comes into the equation. the national fascist party decides to impose marble façades, we're now.14 However according to the contract signed in December 1932, the party agreed on plastered façades. They have now three choices: a plastered façade has originally planned, marble only on the main façade, or marble on every façade except the rear one. The type of marble should also be decided: Musso (the one from the Duomo, across the piazza), Botticino (the least expensive) or Carrara. The party finally settles on Musso marble.

Terragni has to rethink the entire project from the composition of the façades to the division of the interior spaces. However, the structure of the building itself permits a lot of freedom. According to Terragni, this type of construction is what Le Corbusier would call “très généreux”.15 The generosity comes from the acceptation of change. The structure allows for the possibility of changing, redesigning the building, extend the conception phase even when the construction has already started.

The design of the façade will be simplified. On the main façade, the small opening on the solid wall is erased. The openings on the lower and the higher levels are now modified to look the same way. On the back façade, the seven windows designed to illuminate the secondary staircase are merged to form a single continuous opening. From then on, the Casa del Fascio turns into an experimental project, a laboratory of construction in Italy, with a lot of innovations: a concrete structure with a marble coating, huge walls of glass blocks, very thin beams to create the “grid façade”, etc. 16 Despite the recommendations of the fascist party, Terragni decides instead to use the cheaper Botticino marble which veins are the more discrete, and which looks the most uniform. This way all four façades can be covered for the same price. This marble is completely neutral, it doesn't try to change the look the building, it doesn't try to be a decoration. It can't even be mistaken for stone cladding since every panel is carefully stapled on top of each other. The thin gaskets will create a very subtle orthogonal grid.

13. Diane Ghirardo, “Politics of a Masterpiece: The Vincenda of the Decoration of the Facade of the of the Casa del Fascio, Como, 1936-39”, (The Art Bulletin, vol. 62, no. 3, Sept. 1980), p.474.

14. Giuseppe Terragni, “La construzione della Casa del Fascio in Como”, Quadrante 35-36, 1936, p.6.

15. Ibid,. p.12.

16. Sergio Poretti, “La Casa del Fascio di Como”, (Carocci Editore, 1998), p.51.

Putting the marble coating in place will prove to be the most difficult task during the construction.

Because the façades are not smooth but play a lot with geometry, the execution plans cannot be used properly and everything has to be decided on site. Other difficulties include Terragni wanting the plates to be as thin as possible and the fact every panel has a different size but one shouldn't be able to tell by simply looking at the building. Terragni will then personally handpick every single marble panel, being completely inflexible. A small splinter, veins a bit too visible, a colour a bit different and the panel is immediately dismissed and send back to the factory in Vicence. The relation with the marble supplier starts to turn sour. In July 1934, the fascist federation realises that none of the panels are in place when the marble coating should have been completed for the middle of the month. The inauguration date originally planned for the end of October is pushed back to the spring of 1935. In October, the marble company is dismissed. They mainly argued that three cm thick marble panels were impossible to make whereas Terragni insisted on the opposite. The construction will need the intervention of two others companies and another year for the building to be finally completed. 17 As a result, the Casa del Fascio ended up costing three times as much as originally planned, and the project had to undergo at least five different transformations before its completion.

This story illustrates just how much Terragni was committed to his work, always looking for perfection even if it sometimes meant not to respect the fascist party's requirements. In the end, the building was never properly inaugurated, a big disappointment for Terragni who really expected Mussolini to be there for this particular event.18 ANALYSIS OF THE BUILDING With all this information, I will attempt to determine if the building can be considered fascist and if so what makes it fascist. I will analyse the Casa del Fascio based on several criteria: the role/function of the building, the space composition and the position of the individual within the structure, symbolism, and typologies and finally the elements of propaganda.

What should be a “Casa del Fascio”?

The Case del Fascio were physical manifestations of power within Italian communities and were meant to be used as public spaces for the general public under Fascist control. As they were generally the only “fascist“ buildings within a specific community, the structures were given important symbolic significance. In theory, they were also meant to provide a “home” for the Fascist population, with a public space for gathering, socialising and celebrations. Sometimes, they contained the only theatre, cinema, or radio in town, as well as a reading room with books and the latest newspapers from all over Italy, and often “the Case del Fascio served as the only link, not just with the world, or even Italy, but with the rest of the local province”.19 The Fascist population was meant to dwell within the collective, with the houses of Fascism providing spaces for their dwelling.

According to Storchi, “Terragni’s aim was to create a building that was the spatial representation of a specific aesthetic, ideology and view of history, but also intended to redefine, through a poetics of spatial experience, the notion of public space under Fascism, in terms of the visualisation of the spatial relationship between power and people”.20 The Casa del Fascio had to be conceived as a spatial representation of the new nation, therefore it needed to be “ Casa, Scuola, Tiempo”. 21 The building needed to a have a symbolic and moral significance, a space that gained its moral value by rejecting the notion of a traditional building in favour of a functional yet symbolically planned space.

17. Sergio Poretti, op. cit., p. 59.

18. Sophie Paviol, “Giuseppe Terragni, L’invention d’un espace”, (Infolio Editions, 2006), p.22.

19. Ghirardo, op. cit., p 474.

20. Simona Storchi, ” ‘Il Fascicmo E Una Casa Di Vetro’: Giuseppe Terrangi and the Politics of Space in Fascist Italy” , (Italian Studies, Vol. 62. no. 2 Autumn 2007), p.233.

21. Terragni, op.cit., p.14.

Although the primary function of the Casa del Fascio in Cuomo was to be the party headquarters, it was also, like every other Case del Fascio, dedicated ”alla memoria dei Caduti per la Rivoluzione”, to the memory of the soldiers who died for the fascist regime. This provided the building with a spiritual and “sacred” quality, thus fulfilling the metaphor of the tempio. This also permitted a monumentalization of the building reflected by the distribution of space within. The sacrario, dedicated to the memory of the fascist martyrs was located to the left of the entrance foyer and represented the spiritual core of the Casa. The intention of Terragni was to provide the visitor with a full experience of the sacrario, the ceiling was thus covered in black marble and the walls in red granite. 2 2 Terragni purposely lowered the floor level of the sacrario, compared to the rest of the atrium, were it was located, in order to “remove” the space from the everyday life. As Richard A. Etlin argues, the movement down into the earth provides “a powerful kinaesthetic reminder of mortality”, 23 a technique used a lot in funerary buildings since the eighteenth century. Finally, the sacrario hosted a monolith engraved with the names of the fallen Fascists of Como. Relics of the martyrs were contained in a block of glass, as objects of devotion. This allowed inscribing fascism within history, by recalling the memory of its former “heroes“ it is creating its own heritage.

The structure, location, and aesthetics depended not only on their bureaucratic purpose but also on their pedagogical and propaganda role. Case del Fascio were also the centre of the political and social life of the fascist collectivity, places of cult and of educational and propaganda activity. The fascist party insisted therefore on the symbolic aspect for the buildings themselves. A common feature among Case del Fascio, was the “littoria tower”, a tower copying the bells towers from the medieval churches in order to compete visually with them.24 Other elements usually included an assembly hall, internal or external staircase to use for ceremonies, a balcony from which to address the audience (the arengario), battlements and office spaces.

This model for the Case del Fascio was adopted by the Fascist Party in 1932, derived from the model of the municipal buildings developed in Italy during the Quattrocento. 2 5 The aim was to produce an identifiable and reassuring standard with a recall to the “glorious past”. This way the Casa del Fascio could become part of the architectural and political history of the town it was built in.

For the Casa del Fascio in Cuomo, however, Terragni went against public and political opinion and decided to reject the traditional littoria tower and the arengario. Terragni refused to blindly copy of the example of the medieval municipio and was highly critical of the model proposed by the fascist party.

According to Diane Ghirardo, this is evidence of Terragni's belief in the modern character of the fascist revolution.26 A new type of building needed to be created to represent more accurately fascism.

The building The Casa del Fascio in Cuomo is a four-storey building, with a square base, each side measuring 33m.

Its height is exactly half of this 16.5m. The façades are covered with white marble and the entrance leads on to a courtyard which opens on a piazza. The building features a large central hall, double height, covered with a ceiling made of concrete and glass tiles. The rooms are located along the four sides and their windows are each different creating four very distinct façades. The ground floor is composed of the atrium, the hall, the sacrario, offices, and the main staircase on the right. Here, the façade is composed of a series of eighteen glass doors. On public occasions, all the doors would be opened in order to create a continuous space from the square to the meeting hall. On the first floor, the main staircase leads to a gallery overlooking the central hall and distributing the most important offices: the political secretariat, the federal secretary and the hall of the directorate. The second floor follows the same pattern and hosts offices, the administration and the library. Only accessible by a secondary staircase, the top floor contains the rooms designated for university groups, the archive, and the caretaker’s apartment.

23. Etlin, Modernism, pp. 447–48 24. Emilio Gentile, Il culto del littorio (Laterza, 1993), p.242.

25. Ghirardo, op. Cit., p.257.

26. Ibid., p.262.

According to Sergio Poretti, the extensive use of glass and marble in the Casa del Fascio gives the building both a traditional and a modern building aspect. 2 7 The major innovation of this building remains the large meeting hall, which embodies the spirit of fascism and gives the building its dimension of a place designed for the masses.

Space of the order, order of space The Case del Fascio were an indication of political presence within the cities and towns in Italy, reinforcing the fascist power structure. They were intended to provide a model for the new Fascist architecture. In a sense, they are a perfect illustration of the notion of “disciplinary space and controlled space” developed by Michel Foucault: “disciplinary normalisation consists first of all in positioning a model, an optimal model that is constructed in terms of a certain result, and the operation of disciplinary normalisation consists in trying to get people, movements, and actions to conform to this model, the normal being precisely that which can conform to this norm, and the abnormal that which is incapable of conforming to the norm”. 28 In more simple words, the Case del Fascio allowed the Fascist party to control the population by creating a normative condition. The building helped to establish the new relationship between the sovereign fascist state and the population.

The completely transparent aspect of the building and the fact it was designed for the masses was perceived by Massimo Bontempolli (who initially wrote the editorial for Quadrante on the Casa del Fascio, which was dismissed due to highly critical nature) as a complete obliteration of the individual. He saw the Casa del Fascio as a building in which there was no room for the individual as space was designed around the idea of a crowd. In true fascist spirit, the thinking individual was opposed to the unthinking, manipulable and anonymous crowd of collective life, experience, and politics. Bontempolli identified the Casa del Fascio as a space where people, depending on their role, couldn't do anything but obey or command. Because of its nature as a space defining collectivity, there was no enclosed space (in the sense of private space) within the building. Therefore, the totalitarian inclusive aspect of the Casa del Fascio becomes apparent. The transparency played a very perverse and ambiguous role in the sense that it didn't allow for the people to disconnect themselves from the party, as they could always see or be seen. This expressed the fascist doctrine that nothing exists outside the state. Bontempolli argues through the extensive use of glass, the building refuses enclosure, the façades both belong to the building and the city, there is no clear distinction between inside and outside. Through the elimination of barriers, people can access the building more easily and thus it becomes a building for the people. The Casa del Fascio can be perceived as a metaphor of fascism itself, Fascism is here considered as a transparent system which has nothing to hide and invites the people to participate. However, Bontempolli argues that there is no private dimension, the system is as transparent to the individual as the individual is transparent to the system. The space of the building blends with the sphere of private life which should normally remain a separate identity. 29 The building becomes, therefore, a repressive space, as nothing escapes the surveillance of power.

This rejection of the private his developed in Terragni's statement that “a house for the people is not, and cannot be a “popular type of construction””.3 0 A “house for the people” has to consider moral, political, propaganda factors which means more freedom in the use of space, more expensive materials and therefore a unique type of building. In the Quadrante dossier, Terragni explains the project and justifies his choices. In a section entitled “Esigenze della pianta”, he stresses the distribution and ideologization of space in the building. The plan of the Casa was based on the idea of a large covered central space on which meeting rooms and offices would open up. The main objective was to provide a space that would be accessible to a large number of people. Terragni spoke of the “disciplined masses” that would gather in the forecourt and atrium of the building. There was the intent that party officials and Mussolini could speak to their audience gathered inside the building and still be heard by the crowd outside on the piazza. Therefore, there shouldn't be any 27. Poretti, op. cit., p.391.

29. Ciucci, op. cit., p.47.

30. Terragni, op cit., p.6.

break in continuity between indoors and outdoors. This idea justified the system of having to press a single button that could open all the eighteen glass door of the building at once. Mussolini's concept of: “Fascism as a glass house into which everyone can peer gives rise to this interpretation which is a continuation of the former: no obstacles, no barriers, nothing between the political leader and his people”.31 About participation of the masses in Fascist rallies and activities at the Casa del Fascio, Terragni also adds: “attendance will not be a philanthropic or charitable activity but a social duty. And the way the organisations, and therefore the departments, are distributed in the building will have to reflect the party statute, which determines, to the smallest detail, the complex political activity, the hierarchy of values and ranks of the members of the Fasci di Combattimento”.32 In other words, the general population was encouraged (or forced) to participate in civic events under the guise of sharing in power, when in reality the power structure was impenetrable and separate from the lives of everyday people.

In spite of their very different political positions, Terragni's conception of the crowd reminds us of Lefebvre : “the space of the social order is hidden in the order of space”.33 The “disciplined masses” are part of the fascist concept of the “new man”, “collective and organised, educated by totalitarian pedagogy to identify spontaneously with the community and the state”.3 4 A man freed from the individualist concept of life, devoid of any personality, whose identity is replaced by a sense of collectivity, community by the feeling of being part of something larger than himself: the fascist state. The aesthetics of “the body display” of the crowd provides also a great feeling of political community. Indeed for the Quadrante issue on the Casa del Fascio, a photo montage was made picturing a giant crowd gathered in front of the Casa del Fascio, galvanised by the building, by this new “symbol” of fascism. (Figure 1)

Symbolism and typologies The way the Casa del Fascio del Fascio is implanted within the urban fabric and context of Cuomo is also extremely important. The building is located in the centre of the city, right across the piazza is the Duomo, the Cathedral of Cuomo. Terragni's immediately creates a dialectic between the religious and the civic power reminiscent of Renaissance Italy. With this gesture, the Fascist state becomes the equal of the Church, in the heart of the city, at the centre of civic life. Furthermore, the mountain (the Brunate Hill) below which the structure is located frames perfectly the building and provides an effect of monumentality. Attilio Terragni describes this juxtaposition as a feature that: “...supports and reinforces the union of the building with the landscape above, but also the perception that the expressive world of the landscape has in some way invaded its solid external perimeter with a dynamic presence.” 35 The integration of the structure within the urban fabric while respecting the Italian tradition of urban organisation illustrates an implied monumentality not only within the edifice but also in the building's relation to its surroundings.

To evoke the “glorious past“ advocated by the fascist party, Terragni infuses a lot of different architectural influences in an otherwise modernist building. To Franco Purini it is: ”a metaphor of the Roman compound, a metaphor of its own isolation, a metaphor of the Cuomo courtyard house.” 36 Cesare Seta calls the building “a Renaissance palace constructed witj concrete and glass“, 37 and Schumacher describes the Casa not only as a Florentinian-Roman Renaissance palace but more as a Venetian palazzo type. 38 According to Peter Eisenman, in early drawings of the Casa del Fascio, Terragni includes a “rusticated base with rusticated pilasters around the entry, a low, hipped roof, and a secondary articulation, in the front and side facades, of floor plans Terragni references classical forms, such as the temple layouts from Vitruvius’ “Ten Books on 31. Ibid., p.10 32. Peter Eisenman, “Giuseppe Terragni: Transformations, Decompositions, Critiques“, (The Monacelli Press, 2003), p.266.

33. Henri Lefebvre, “The Production of Space”, (Blackwell, 2005) p.220.

34. Gentile, op. cit., p.30.

36. Franco Purini, “L ́Architettura Didattica”, (Regio Calabria, 1981), p.11.

37. Cesare de Seta, “La Cultura de Architettonica in Italia tra le due guerre”, (Laterza, 1972). p.206 38. Schumacher, op. cit., p.67.

39. Eisenman, op. cit., p 43.

40. Schumacher, op. cit., p.53.

Figure 1. A crowd gathered outside the Casa del Fascio. Quadrante, October 1936

the four volumetric corners typical of a Renaissance palazzo”.39 Indeed, Terragni studied the classical and renaissance masters that were Vitruvius and Michelangelo was therefore able to to use them as influences.

H i s “particular classicism manifests itself in the use of proportion, in figurative motifs, party-forms, compositional regularity and cubic stereometry, and in the use of classic detail forms in the layout of his Architecture”.40 but plays with them, to suit the purposes of his program and incorporates some modernist principles into the structure. The Casa del Fascio is not strictly classical per se, for example, the main entrance is not centred and there is no symmetry on the façades. However, the regularity of the structural grid in the overall scheme is in keeping with classical values. Indeed, even the half-cube shape of the building references the square, which was part of the “sacred geometry” of classical architecture. Terragni wished to distinguish himself from modernism incorporating references to Italian architecture into his design and used classical forms to achieve this end. Giorgio Cucci observes that: “Terragni's classicism was not a literal representation of a past model, but an understanding of what he perceived as the classical spirit, which he conceived especially in terms of a geometrical order. His buildings aspired to a classical harmony without recourse to the classicist formal apparatus“.41 Simona Storchi adds: “Terragni’s intention was to employ a newly elaborated notion of modern classicism to express Fascist spatial practice”.42 Because of the numerous and very different influences that went into the design of the Casa del Fascio, the building is difficult to categorise. Upon first glance, the building looks modernist with its half-cube shape, rectilinear layout, and white exterior, but many layers of meaning can be found in the spatial layout and façade arrangement. With conflicting ideologies and motivations at play in its design and execution, it a fragmented entity. The Casa del Fascio is unique as it both reinforces historical references and breaks away from them, borrowing from both classicism and modernism, but refusing to be defined by either.

Propaganda The propagandistic elements are also worth noticing although most of them didn't end up being built.

Ghirardo describes in details how the main façade of the Casa del Fascio, facing the piazza, was originally supposed to act as a political billboard. It was to be covered by a mosaic of photographs, illustrating episodes from the fascist history, in a fashion similar to what Terragni did for the Sala O for the Fascist exhibition in 1932: “The panels were nostalgic and patriotic rather than radical, summoning up an interest in the past historic moments of Fascism, recalling triumphs, lives touched, and the role of the Duce above that of all others. The design explicitly projected the most salient feature of Fascism: the gigantic head of Mussolini hovered above the smaller figures in the other panels much as a marble head of Constantine on the Capitoline Hill symbolically loomed over the city of Rome”. 43 (Figure 2) The project was rejected for “unsuitable material” as the photographs were to be made on baked enamel. It was redesigned to become a marble mosaic instead but was rejected again due to cost and deteriorating relationships between Terragni and the party officer in charge. From then on, between 1936 and 1939, numerous projects were proposed only to be cancelled later.

The next version was a podium for speeches and a sculpture of a horse with an attendant in front of the blank wall in the piazza. The final one was designed by T. Nicoli in 1939: a simple imperial eagle with the text: “Il popolo italiano ha creato col suo sangue l´impero. Lo fenocderá col suo lavoro e lo difenderá contro chiunque colle sue arni”. However, the beginning of WWII made the design impossible once again and, in the end, nothing was built.

41. Ciucci op. cit., p.147.

42. Storchi, op. cit., p.232.

43. Ghirardo, op cit., p.470.

Figure 2. One of proposed design for the faรงade

Figure 3. Mural made by Mario Radice

Some elements of propaganda were, however, included inside the building, like a fascist mural made

by Mario Radice (Figure 3). Today completely removed from the building, the figure of Mussolini was also very present at the time. Two rooms, the Sala del Federale and the Salone del Direttorio were given an important symbolic value. In the first, one could appreciate the vigilant and comforting presence of a portrait of the Duce, and of the labaro (the local party banner), held in a crystal and black marble casket. In the second one, a frescoed portrait of Mussolini, twice as big as Mussolini himself, was overlooking a long meeting table, allowing the “Capo” to symbolically preside over every meeting and supervise the party activities even in his absence. This device was used to represent the “unsleeping eye” of the Fascist government, reminding everyone that Mussolini was capable of knowing what was happening at all times and in all places, especially in the Case del Fascio.44 CONCLUSION Throughout this essay, we understood how the Rationalists carefully articulated their discourse to appeal to Fascism, with whom it shared some common values. We've seen how Terragni's strong personality allowed him to design his project without deviating from his architectural vision in spite of the demands of the party. Through his complete dedication to the project, he was able to question and reinterpret what a Casa del Fascio should be. The conceptualisation of space allowed us to question the role of the individual within a fascist state. The analysis of the symbolism and the typologies, used by Terragni, revealed how the Casa del Fascio was inscribed into a fascist narrative of history-making. Finally, the elements of propaganda within the building proved to be scarce and didn't add much to Terragni's already well-articulated discourse.

With the Casa del Fascio, Terragni was able to create a new narrative of the monument, which gave legitimacy to the state by celebrating the past and creating its own history by celebrating the present.

Terragni produced a new place of collective memory by combining his vision of classicism and modernism, in order to create a new identity of fascism embedded into the national tradition. The Casa del Fascio purpose wasn't only to represent the party’s qualities but also to embody the spiritual values associated with the new fascist society. Terragni intended to define a space that expressed and contained the myths of Fascism, as Ciucci has argued: “He also attempted to transform Fascism into a spatial metaphor, while at the same time trying to provide a definition of a space able to contain, shape, describe and celebrate the collective life and identity of the Fascist subject“.45 Finally, one could argue that the Casa del Fascio paradoxically both exemplifies and resists its label as “fascist” building. As Eisenman argues, “the Casa del Fascio resists identification as either Fascist or Rationalist and is not easily categorised as such”. 4 6 It can be seen as a building that embodies the very essence of fascism, its principles, its ideals and even its contradictions or it can be simply seen as a great architectural composition intelligently blending different influences and illustrating the vision of its architect.

In the end, what makes the Casa del Fascio such a relevant building, even today, is that actually surpasses the simple definition of a fascist building.

44. Terragni, op. cit., p.15.

45. Ciucci, op.cit., p.116 46. Eisenman, op.cit., p.266.

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