Monumentality and Mortality: Mussolini’s Piazza Augusto Imperatore Open Access

Abstract

This thesis examines a series of twentieth century (primarily interwar) urban planning projects designed for the area around the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome, today the Piazza Augusto Imperatore. The final project design (1936 to 1938) by architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo was constructed under Mussolini’s Fascist regime. The discourse on Italian Fascist architecture widely regards Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia (October 1935 to May 1936) as the regime’s stylistic turning point from Rationalism to Imperial monumentality, as the war explicitly marks Mussolini’s reclamation of the Roman Empire. While the Ethiopian crisis definitely marks the stylistic transition to a distinctly Imperial style, the regime’s shift to monumentality in urban interventions prefigures the conflict. This thesis argues that the Piazza Augusto Imperatore project effectively marks the transition in the regime’s architectural style from Rationalism to (Rationalist) monumentality to Imperial monumentality. This project’s focus on ‘monument’ is a reflection of the mortality of Mussolini and his regime, and thus a ‘new’ unified monumental style is established. 

Table of Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................................(1)

Part I: Works prior to the Piazza Augusto Imperatore Project...............................(9)

Margherita Sarfatti and Armando Brasini..............................................................(9)

About Piacentini....................................................................................................(11)

Period of Transition 1932 to 1936..........................................................................(13)

Città Universitaria 1932.........................................................................................(15)

Part II: Mausoleum of Augustus Projects from 1909 to 1932.................................(17)

Piano Regolatore of 1909.......................................................................................(18)

The Variante Generale 1925/1926..........................................................................(20)

Del Debbio Project 1927.........................................................................................(23)

Brasini Project 1927-28..........................................................................................(25)

Piano Regolatore of 1931.......................................................................................(28)

Timing: Excavations and Demolitions...................................................................(30)

Part III: Morpurgo and the Mausoleum of Augustus..............................................(32)

Why Morpurgo?......................................................................................................(32)

The Morpurgo Preliminary Sketch Plan 1934.........................................................(35)

The First Morpurgo Project 1935............................................................................(37)

Part IV: Ethiopian Crisis, Final Morpurgo Project, EUR.........................................(39)

The Ethiopian Crisis 1935......................................................................................(39)

The Uffici Tecnici del Governatorato Revisions.....................................................(40)

Final Morpurgo Project 1936..................................................................................(41)

Ara Pacis and Res Gestae........................................................................................(46)

EUR.........................................................................................................................(50)

Conclusion..............................................................................................................(51)

Figures....................................................................................................................(54)

Bibliography............................................................................................................(62) 

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Art History
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Architecture Urban and Regional Planning Art History
Keyword	Italian fascism Interwar Rationalism Mussolini Armando Brasini Monumentality Ara Pacis Piano Regolatore MAdR Mausoleum of Augustus Invasion of Ethiopia Piazza Augusto Imperatore MdRF Spiro Kostof Morpurgo Rationalist monumentality Mortality Imperial monumentality Memory Roman Empire Architettura Michel de Certeau Third Rome
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Eric R. Varner, Emory University
Committee Members	Sean Meighoo, Emory University Christina E. Crawford, Emory University

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