In the realm of Italian art and architecture, the specter of fascism looms large, casting a shadow that stretches across decades and raises profound questions about memory, heritage, and historical reckoning. A new volume, A Difficult Heritage: The Afterlives of Fascist-Era Art and Architecture (Silvana Editoriale), edited by 2019 Italian Fellow Carmen Belmonte, serves as both a testament to this enduring legacy and a compendium of different scholarly approaches to its complexities.
The genesis of Belmonte’s book can be traced back to an event in March 2019—a two-day conference supported by the American Academy in Rome’s Fellows’ Project Fund (which supports collaborative projects between Fellows). Organized by AAR and the Max Planck Institute and hosted at the Biblioteca Hertziana, this gathering brought together a diverse array of voices from the fields of history, art history, architecture, literature, and anthropology to explore the material history and reception of Fascist-era artifacts in Italy. From monuments to urban projects, the conference delved into the nuanced ways in which these remnants of a bygone era continue to shape contemporary discourse and public space.
At the heart of the conference discussions was the concept of “difficult heritage,” a term coined by the anthropologist Sharon Macdonald in the Nazi context to describe the fraught legacies of oppressive regimes. For Italy, grappling with its Fascist past entails confronting not only the physical remnants of Mussolini’s regime but also the enduring ideological and aesthetic influences that permeate its cultural landscape. Italy’s built environment features numerous significant Fascist structures, such as the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in EUR and the Stadio dei Marmi in Rome, and the Piazza della Vittoria in Brescia.
Belmonte’s edited volume is a synthesis of the conference proceedings, offering a multifaceted exploration of Fascist-era art and architecture. Drawing on contributions from leading scholars in the field, the book navigates a complex terrain marked by debates over restoration, preservation, and public memory. Among the contributors are Mia Fuller (1988 Fellow), Franco Baldasso (2019 Fellow), Dell Upton (2019 Resident), Joshua W. Arthurs (2016 Fellow), and Adachiara Zevi, the daughter of the famed architect and critic Bruno Zevi and a critic herself.
One of the central themes that emerges from Belmonte’s volume is the evolving nature of Italy’s engagement with its Fascist legacy. From the immediate postwar period of iconoclasm and censorship to the recognition of these sites as cultural patrimony in the 1980s to the more recent trend of critical reevaluation and contextualization, Italy and its scholars have grappled with conflicting impulses of remembrance and erasure.
Key to this process is the role of contemporary scholarship and artistic interventions in reshaping the narrative surrounding Fascist-era artifacts. Rather than succumbing to the temptation of censorship or neglect, Belmonte, who is now assistant professor of contemporary art history at Roma Tre University, argues for a nuanced approach that encourages dialogue, interpretation, and historical contextualization. By situating these artifacts within their broader sociopolitical context, scholars and cultural institutions can foster a deeper understanding of Italy’s complex past while preserving its cultural heritage for future generations.
The significance of Belmonte’s work extends beyond the boundaries of academia, resonating with broader societal debates about memory, identity, and the legacy of authoritarianism. With the hotly debated conversation in the United States concerning Confederate monuments, especially in the wake of the George Floyd protests of 2020, A Difficult Heritage serves as a timely reminder of the importance of confronting difficult truths and engaging in critical dialogue about the legacies of the past. As Belmonte writes in the introduction to the volume, “We hope this book will inspire fresh ideas and further reflections about fascist legacies’ preservation and display, taking into account the expectations of an increasingly transcultural society that challenges nationalist heritage narratives.”