A ''casa del Fascio'', ''casa Littoria'', or ''casa del Littorio'' () was a building housing the local branch of the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party (, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of It ...

and later the Republican Fascist Party under the regime of

Italian Fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

, in Italy and its colonies, and Malta. In major urban centers, it was called the ''palazzo del Littorio'' or ''palazzo Littorio''. ''Littorio'' means ''

lictor A lictor (possibly from Latin language, Latin ''ligare'', meaning 'to bind') was a Ancient Rome, Roman civil servant who was an attendant and bodyguard to a Roman magistrate, magistrate who held ''imperium''. Roman records describe lictors as hav ...

'', the bearer of the '' fasces lictorii'', the symbol of Roman power adopted by the Fascist party.

History

There were about 11,000 ''case del Fascio'' in all. Around 5,000 buildings were constructed specifically as ''case del Fascio''. Many of them were designed by Italian rationalist architects including

Adalberto Libera Adalberto Libera (; 16 July 1903 – 17 March 1963) was one of the most representative architects of the Italian modern and contemporary architecture, Italian Modern movement.Adalberto Libera at DARC (Dept. of Architecture and Contemporary Art, ...

, Saverio Muratori, Ludovico Quaroni, Giuseppe Samonà, and

Giuseppe Terragni Giuseppe Terragni (; 18 April 1904 – 19 July 1943) was an Italian architect who worked primarily under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and pioneered the Italian modern movement under the rubric of Rationalism. His most famous work is the ...

, but there were also

historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

and

modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

architects. The ''Case del Fascio'' became one of the central points of the new cities and new towns founded under the regime, along with the church and the town hall. In smaller towns, existing buildings were bought or rented, sometimes unmodified, sometimes specially adapted. After World War II, the ''Case del Fascio'' were turned over to the Italian state under the provisions of Law 159 of July 27, 1944, "Sanctions against Fascism". Still today they often bear signs or emblems of the fascist regime. At present, only the Bolzano former ''Casa Littoria'' has been recontextualized, displaying from 2017 onwards a quote from

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

placed over a monumental bas-relief with at its center Mussolini himself and publicly contradicting him.{{Citation , last = Obermair , first = Hannes , contribution = Monuments and the City—an almost inextricable entanglement , editor = Matthias Fink, display-editors=et al , title = 'Multiple Identitäten in einer "glokalen Welt"—Identità multiple in un "mondo glocale"—Multiple identities in a "glocal world" , pages = 88–99 , publisher =

Eurac Research Eurac Research is a private research center headquartered in Bolzano, South Tyrol. The center has eleven institutes and five centers. Eurac Research has more than 800 partners spread across 56 countries. Eurac Research collaborates with internati ...

, place = Bozen-Bolzano, year = 2017 , isbn = 978-88-98857-35-7

Bibliography

*''L'architettura delle Case del Fascio nella Regione Lazio'', a cura di Flavio Mangone e Andrea Soffitta, Alinea, Firenze, 2006

Notes

Italian fascist architecture Headquarters of political parties

History

See also

Bibliography

Notes