ABSTRACT
This section describes reception and polemics at the extremities of empire and discusses how fascist-era architecture is perceived by local citizens. The structures constitute modern interventions that cross the northern regions of Italy from Genoa to Brescia: from Trento (before and after World War II) to Cortina d’Ampezzo, investigating the works of some of modern Italy’s great figures. They reveal to a greater or lesser degree the influence of the regime on modern urban development. The emergence of period architecture opens questions about symbols and propaganda and the endurance of the regime’s message in built form. The section examines the afterlife of a postwar settlement on the Dolomite slopes of Borca di Cadore in the tourist region of Belluno that is modeled from Mussolini’s colonia structures. Two buildings by Adalberto Libera found in the city of Trento in the autonomous region of Trentino/Alto Adige provide fresh insights into the symbolism of works by one of Italy’s best-known Rationalist architects.
