ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the relationship of a politically inspired project within the very charged environment of the years of lead, the period of two decades from the late 1960s when Italy was beset by terrorism. The disputes of fascists and partisans from an earlier era, unresolved due to the various interventions of German, American or British occupiers, resurfaced in the extreme actions of groups, neo-fascists and revolutionary marxists whom the post-war consensus had failed to satisfy or pacify. In contrast the adjacent urban space, Piazza della Vittoria, still dominated by the empty frame where Mussolini's equestrian portrait had looked down the fascist urban design held very immediate memories of turmoil from the tainted process of the liberation of 1945. In a book such as Socrates Ancestor, Indra Kagis McEwens discussion of classical architecture and city planning, they are described as labyrinths and dancefloors, the spaces respectively of the struggles of everyday life and the ritual celebrations of the festival.
