Mussolini's Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City (Italian & Italian American Studies) - Hardcover

Painter, B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1403966044 ISBN 13: 9781403966049

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005

Synopsis

In 1922 the Fascist 'March on Rome' brought Benito Mussolini to power. He promised Italians that his fascist revolution would unite them as never before and make Italy a strong and respected nation internationally. In the next two decades, Mussolini set about rebuilding the city of Rome as the site and symbol of the new fascist Italy. Through an ambitious program of demolition and construction he sought to make Rome a modern capital of a nation and an empire worthy of Rome's imperial past. Building the new Rome put people to work, 'liberated' ancient monuments, cleared slums, produced new "cities" for education, sports, and cinema, produced wide new streets, and provided the regime with a setting to showcase fascism's dynamism, power, and greatness. Mussolini's Rome thus embodied the movement, the man and the myth that made up fascist Italy.

About this title

About the Author

Borden W. Painter Jr. is Professor of History Emeritus of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and lives in West Hartford.

Reviews

As observant visitors to Rome will note, not only are most of the buildings and avenues sponsored by Mussolini's regime still there but so are monuments exalting the name and image of the dictator. These vestiges prompted historian Painter to chronicle Mussolini's construction projects and their expression of fascistic ideas. As a stage for mass rallies and military parades, 1920s Rome would not do, so the clearance of marching routes and plazas began, their final form often leading the eye to a famous Roman ruin, which was the point. The ancient Roman Empire was to be visually connected with the new one of Mussolini's megalomaniacal fantasy; centuries of buildings around the Theater of Marcellus were razed, and the open space was refilled with a ministry. Painter then describes the athletic facilities built to promote fascism's cult of militant physical fitness and the collective housing put up on Rome's periphery. With dozens of photographs, Painter's able study displays what hides in plain sight in the Eternal City. Gilbert Taylor
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Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1403966044
• ISBN 13: 9781403966049
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200