You’re walking through Rome, and you notice some distinctive buildings: massive, imposing structures with geometric lines and fascist-era propaganda carved into the facade. Or you’re driving south of Rome and you pass the EUR district—a weird, beautiful, unsettling neighborhood of Art Deco buildings that looks like it was designed for a sci-fi movie. These aren’t random pieces of architecture. They’re the physical remnants of Mussolini’s Italy, fascism’s boldest architectural project in Europe.

This is one of the stranger aspects of visiting Italy: you’re constantly encountering beautiful, impressive buildings and structures that were built by a fascist regime that committed atrocities, went to war alongside Nazi Germany, and left a legacy of trauma and shame. How do you reconcile beauty with the evil it was made to serve?

The March on Rome: Mussolini Takes Power

To understand Mussolini and fascist Italy, you have to start with the state of Italy in the early 1920s.

Italy had “won” World War I, but the victory felt hollow. Italy had suffered 600,000 deaths and enormous economic disruption. In return, Italy gained some territory (South Tyrol, some Adriatic territories) but not as much as many Italians felt they deserved. There was a sense of national humiliation—Italy had paid the price of a great power but didn’t have the territory or prestige to show for it.

At the same time, the economy was in crisis. Unemployment was high. Inflation was out of control. Social unrest was growing. Socialist and communist parties were gaining strength, and conservatives feared a Bolshevik revolution like the one that had just happened in Russia.

Enter Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was a journalist and political operator who’d been a socialist but had become disillusioned with socialism during WWI. He was intelligent, charismatic, and absolutely ruthless. In the chaos of the early 1920s, he founded the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento—the Italian Combat Squad—which became the foundation of the Fascist movement.

The Fascists combined nationalism, anti-communism, and militant action. They attacked socialists and communists in the streets. They promised to restore Italy to greatness. They appealed to people who were scared of communism and who wanted a strong leader to restore order.

By 1922, the Fascists had become powerful enough that the King invited Mussolini to form a government. The “March on Rome” (which actually wasn’t a particularly dramatic march—it was more of a negotiation) resulted in Mussolini becoming Prime Minister.

The Creation of the Fascist State

Once in power, Mussolini transformed Italy into a fascist state. This didn’t happen overnight—it was a gradual process over several years. But by 1925, Italy was a one-party dictatorship with Mussolini as the supreme leader (the “Duce,” meaning leader).

What did fascism mean in practice?

First, it meant the suppression of all political opposition. All political parties except the Fascist Party were banned. Union organizing was prohibited. The free press was eliminated—all newspapers were controlled by the state. Opposition figures were arrested, imprisoned, or sent into internal exile. Some were killed.

Second, it meant the creation of a totalitarian state that attempted to control all aspects of society. There was the Fascist Youth movement that all young people were expected to join. There were Fascist labor unions that replaced independent unions. The state attempted to control culture, religion, education—everything.

Third, it meant aggressive nationalism and the pursuit of imperial expansion. Mussolini dreamed of restoring a new Roman Empire. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia). In 1939, Italy allied with Nazi Germany. In 1940, Italy entered World War II on Germany’s side.

The Personality Cult: Making a God of Mussolini

Fascist states are characterized by the elevation of the leader to near-divine status. Mussolini cultivated a personality cult that was extraordinary even by the standards of totalitarian regimes.

Mussolini was constantly presenting himself in propaganda as a superhuman figure. He was depicted as athletic, brilliant, infallible, destined to restore Italy to greatness. Posters, films, newspapers, and radio constantly promoted his image. School children were taught to love Mussolini. Songs were written about him. His image was everywhere.

This wasn’t subtle. It was overt and overwhelming. The message was: Mussolini is not just a leader, he is Italy. To oppose him is to oppose Italy itself. To love him is to love your country.

Looking back, it seems obvious how manipulative and ridiculous this was. But at the time, in a society where every institution was controlled by the state, and where alternative information sources didn’t exist, it was effective.

The Ethiopian Invasion: Mussolini Overreaches

In 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, one of the few African countries that had not been colonized by Europeans. Ethiopia had a League of Nations member, so the invasion was internationally condemned. But the League of Nations was weak, and Italy withdrew from it. Germany, by contrast, supported Italy.

The invasion was brutal. Italian forces used chemical weapons and killed hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians. The international response was condemnation but no military action. By 1936, Italy had conquered Ethiopia and annexed it as Italian East Africa.

The Ethiopian invasion demonstrated several things: that Mussolini was willing to pursue imperial expansion despite international opposition, that the League of Nations was powerless, and that Italy and Germany were becoming allies against the Western powers.

Alliance with Hitler: The Rome-Berlin Axis

By 1936, Italy and Germany had formed an alliance called the “Rome-Berlin Axis.” It was a natural partnership: both were fascist/Nazi dictatorships, both were opposed to communism, both wanted to overturn the post-WWI order, both wanted to expand territorially.

The alliance deepened over the next few years. Italian and German forces fought together in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), supporting Franco’s fascist forces against the Spanish Republic. Italy and Germany signed the “Pact of Steel” in 1939, a military alliance committing them to fight together if either was attacked.

For Mussolini, the alliance with Hitler was a fateful choice. Hitler was the stronger of the two dictators and the stronger military power. Gradually, Italy was being drawn into German’s orbit. Mussolini was becoming the junior partner in the relationship.

World War II: The Disastrous Choice

When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Italy didn’t immediately enter the war. But in June 1940, as German forces were defeating France, Mussolini decided Italy would enter on Germany’s side. He calculated that Germany had won, and he wanted Italy to be on the winning side.

This was a catastrophic miscalculation. Germany didn’t win. World War II lasted six more years, and it was a disaster for Italy.

Italian forces were poorly equipped compared to the British and the Americans. The Italian navy was defeated at sea. North Africa, where Italian forces were fighting, became a graveyard for Italian soldiers. The Italian economy couldn’t sustain a prolonged war. The Italian population was starving by 1943.

Meanwhile, in 1943, American and British forces invaded Sicily. Italian forces, already demoralized and exhausted, couldn’t resist effectively. Suddenly, after 20 years of Fascist rule and absolute dominance, Mussolini’s regime was collapsing.

The Fall: Deposition, Imprisonment, and Execution

In July 1943, Mussolini was ousted by the Fascist Party itself. The Party’s leadership felt he was leading them to disaster. They convinced the King to have Mussolini arrested. Mussolini was imprisoned.

For a few months, it seemed like Italy might withdraw from the war and switch sides. But then German forces invaded and occupied most of Italy. They freed Mussolini and set him up as the head of a puppet state in northern Italy called the Italian Social Republic.

For the final two years of the war, Mussolini ruled this puppet state while German forces occupied Italy. It was a pathetic end—Mussolini was no longer the powerful dictator but a German puppet, his authority entirely dependent on German military might.

In April 1945, as German forces collapsed, Mussolini tried to flee to Switzerland. He was captured by Italian partisans—resistance fighters who had been fighting against fascism and German occupation. On April 28, 1945, Mussolini was executed by firing squad along with his mistress. His body was then hung upside down and paraded through Milan. It was a humiliating end.

The Architectural Legacy: Beauty Built on Evil

Which brings us to the strange position of the traveler visiting Italy: you encounter beautiful, impressive buildings that were built during the fascist era, funded by the fascist state, and designed to glorify fascism.

The EUR district in Rome is perhaps the most obvious example. In the 1930s, Mussolini commissioned the construction of a new district south of Rome to host the 1942 Olympic Games (the games were cancelled because of the war, but the construction continued). The EUR was designed as a monument to fascism—it was supposed to be the center of the new Italian empire.

What was built is architecturally interesting: buildings with clean lines, monumental scale, geometric clarity. Some of it is beautiful in an austere way. But it’s also unsettling because you know what it was built for and what regime created it.

Other fascist-era buildings are scattered throughout Italy. There are government buildings, sports complexes, monuments—all of them bearing the aesthetic of fascism: monumentality, geometry, a kind of stripped-down severity that was supposed to evoke Roman grandeur.

How Modern Italy Deals with Fascist Architecture

This raises a genuine ethical question: what should modern Italy do with these buildings?

Italy has largely chosen not to destroy them. Some have been converted to other uses. Some are recognized as historically important—they’re sites of fascist architecture that shouldn’t be forgotten. There are some monuments and symbols of fascism that have been removed or condemned, but the actual buildings largely remain.

This creates an odd situation where you can appreciate the architectural merit of a building while being aware of its fascist origins and purposes. It’s uncomfortable, and that discomfort is probably appropriate.

One of the mechanisms Italy has used to confront its fascist past is the historical museum. There are museums dedicated to the history of fascism, to the Resistance against fascism, to the memory of Holocaust victims (Italy also participated in the Holocaust, deporting and murdering Italian Jews). These museums acknowledge the dark history and ensure people remember it.

What to Know When Visiting

When you encounter fascist-era buildings and architecture in Italy, it’s worth:

1. Recognizing what era they’re from and what regime they served
2. Appreciating their aesthetic qualities while being aware of their origins
3. Using them as moments to reflect on how authoritarian regimes use architecture and culture to promote their ideology
4. Visiting museums and historical sites that tell the full story of fascism and its consequences
5. Remembering that fascism was not some aberration unique to Italy—it was a broader European phenomenon that affected many countries, and its lessons are still relevant today

The EUR district is worth visiting—it’s genuinely interesting architecturally. But visit it with your eyes open to what it was and what it represented.

Italy has largely moved past fascism and has built a functioning democracy. But the physical remnants of the fascist era remain, and they serve as a reminder of how easily democratic institutions can collapse, how appealing authoritarian leaders can be, and how important it is to defend democracy and freedom.

Most importantly, remember that the Italian people and Italian culture are not defined by fascism. Fascism was an episode in Italian history—a dark, tragic episode, but ultimately one that was overcome. The Italian Renaissance, Roman civilization, the contemporary Italian culture and people—these are the broader context within which fascism appears as an aberration, not as the essence of Italy.