The “Case d’Italia” (Italy Houses) Designed by Clemente Busiri Vici: Models and Expressions of “Italianness” Abroad During Fascism

Maria Stella Di Trapani, Ph.D.

The research aims to analyze and define the architectural typology of the “Casa d’Italia” (Italy House) abroad, hitherto little investigated by historiography, focusing on the study of buildings designed by Clemente Busiri Vici during the 1930s. The “Casa d’Italia” constituted the privileged place for the formation and transmission of values of belonging to the native country among emigrants and was, therefore, characterized by a strong degree of representativeness and a delicate function of social cohesion. Its architecture contributed to defining the image of the regime abroad, while being detached from the direct control of the PNF – unlike the “Case del Fascio”, monumental buildings with a partially comparable institutional role – and linked rather to the General Directorate of Italians Abroad and to consular representations. The analysis and cataloguing of the twelve projects relating to three continents, preserved in the Clemente Busiri Vici Fund of the Central State Archive (“Case d’Italia” designed in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Greece, Switzerland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Bolivia), will allow the identification of peculiar characteristics and recurring elements at the architectural and decorative level. The systematic examination of some sector magazines, together with bibliographic and archival research at the ACS and the Diplomatic Historical Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will allow the complete definition of the architectural typology in question and the identification of other relevant examples designed by different professionals. By comparing the emerging results, furthermore, it will be possible to answer the question regarding the existence of a univocal model or functional and aesthetic preferences connected to the relative cultural contexts. The research, therefore, aims to valorize this almost unpublished corpus of the Roman architect and intends to contribute to the understanding of an architectural typology hitherto neglected. The results will provide new interpretative keys to understand the architectural strategies of the fascist regime abroad and will offer useful elements to evaluate the current reception by local communities, past and present institutional uses and reconfigurations following the fall of the regime.