Denkmäler und sacrari für die Helden des Faschismus in Italien (1922-1943)
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Philipps-Universität Marburg
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Abstract
This dissertation explores the architecture-based fascist self-presentation and identity pursuit through its monuments and sacrari, dedicated to the fallen for the regime, realized during the ventennio (1922-1943) in Italy. In building up its mission as a pseudo-religious movement, the fascist regime pursued the creation of a clear and univocal artistic code, so monuments and sacrari became essential components of a sophisticated propaganda strategy aimed at generating strong emotional reactions in individuals and the community.
The massive widespread creation of these cult sites across Italy, with an estimated amount of 25,000 designs and completed projects for party headquarters, accounts for the partial coverage of studies in this field so far. The analysis of specific lexis shows that this research field has not yet been thoroughly explored: sacrari, defined as spaces, votive chapels, or areas devoted to the cult of the fathers of the homeland, served as both burial and memorial places or cenotaphs (Treccani), distancing them from ossuaries and other forms of architecture of memory. Moreover, sacrari were spread in a lot of very different urban contexts, like fascist political settings, namely party headquarters, inside religious buildings, or even outdoors, and ranged from ephemeral to permanent works. Being source-based, this investigation relies on archival materials, both published and unpublished writings from the ventennio, and on secondary literature, with the aim to bridge the existing research gap.
Closely related to the Christian cult of martyrs and relics, Italian fascist cult applied the term “relics” to its fallen; its rituals and displays placed the sacrario in a complex position, mid-way between the sacred and the museum, blurring the boundaries between its exhibiting dimension and its pseudo-religious aura. Actually, the cult and its implementation were primarily intended for propagandistic staging and the building up of fascist consensus. The results of the attempt to distance from Christian artistic lore and to create a unique symbolism and iconography defining the “Lictorian style” were however questioned and sharply criticized by contemporaries (as per Savoia, Marchi, Sarfatti, Lorio). There were no official guidelines for this typology of state art and architecture, apparently allowing great freedom but actually leading to arbitrary project evaluations, frequent revisions, and inevitable construction delays. Monuments and sacrari thus acted the foil to the performative forms of fascist propaganda, mainly limited to a local level.
Although a large number of sacrari were modeled after Libera’s (1932) renowned design, the central structure of the floor plan cannot merely be traced back to Libera or to the symbolism of the cyclical flow of life and eternity: a structure built on the axial principle can be traced back before 1932 and would live on into the 1940s. The chronological and stylistic development of fascist sacrari, as well as the attempts to visually and spatially represent their transcendental component, are carefully examined in this study. Two in-depth monographic sections are devoted to the Turin competition for a funereal monument (1933) and to Novara’s sacrario dei martiri fascisti (1934-37; Arch. V. Pilotti). For the first time, their initiative is here reconstructed in detail, analyzing designs and sketches (e.g. Levi Montalcini, G. Rigotti, and Pilotti) that have been little known to the scientific public so far.
These artistic works, charged with a conspicuous political connotation and marked by a troubled categorization process, present a noteworthy and yet delicate historical legacy, still needing urgent insight.
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Created: 2023Issued: 2025-11-26Updated: 2025-04-02
Faculty
Fachbereich Germanistik und Kunstwissenschaften
Language
ita
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DoctoralThesis
Keywords
fascismItalysacrarishrinemonumentsGefallene der faschistischen Revolutionfascist Revolutionhistory of architecture
DFG-subjects
DenkmälerArchitekturgeschichteItalienKunstgeschichteFaschismus
DDC-Numbers
830
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Tomesani-Fritzsche, Marta: Denkmäler und sacrari für die Helden des Faschismus in Italien (1922-1943). : Philipps-Universität Marburg 2025-11-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17192/z2025.0100.
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This item has been published with the following license: In Copyright