Defining Italian Rationalism: Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio of Como
Zinovev, Maksim
Zinovev, Maksim
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Abstract
This thesis will examines the Casa del Fascio in Como by Giuseppe Terragni within the larger context of debates about architectural rationalism during the ventennio fascista. The regime made ample use of avant-garde strategies in adapting “classical” forms, values and references, frequently espousing forms of rationalism to accomplish this. However, what is broadly called rationalism in architecture is in fact a broad and heterogeneous phenomenon. This stylistic pluralism, and its underpinning aesthetic and political debates, has not been sufficiently problematised in the normalising accounts of Modernist Italian architecture by Italian scholars since the 1980s, or by the foreign scholars who focus on either biography and commissions, or on the Fascism’s built environments. Thus this thesis will examine Terragni’s Casa del Fascio, considered to be one of the masterpieces of modern Italian architecture, as a case-study of the debates surrounding rationalism, from the first Esposizione Italiana di Architettura Razionale of 1928 to the inauguration of Terragni’s Casa del Fascio in 1936. Indeed, while Terragni’s work became one of the most famous buildings of Italian modernism, it is architecturally quite different from most rationalist buildings of the 1930s. To dispel the idea that this is solely due to a genius architect’s singular vision, this thesis will examine the process of construction of Casa del Fascio, beginning with the commission of the building, to the proposed alterations after its completion. The building’s footprint, plans, materials and functions, both inside and out, will contribute to an analysis of how these choices were made and these solutions found, within the broader ideological context of Fascist modernism.
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Thesis (B.A. in Art History)--John Cabot University, Spring 2025.
Date
2025
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Keywords
Giuseppe Terragni, 1904-1943, Rationalism (Architecture)
Citation
Zinovev, Maksim. "Defining Italian Rationalism: Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio of Como". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2025.