Seicento Architecture for Fascist Italy: Armando Brasini’s Projects in Italy, the Italian Colonies, and Beyond

Philipp Hubert

This doctoral project is dedicated to the work of the Roman architect Armando Brasini (1879–1965). Using newly accessible archival material, the project will shed light on already known projects, incorporate previously unknown projects into his oeuvre, and elaborate upon Brasini’s theoretical positions. His work is thus placed in the complex social, political, and historical-architectural contexts of the Ventennio. Particular attention will be given to his search for an architectural language for Fascist Italy by drawing upon the legacy of Imperial, Byzantine, and Baroque Rome, as well as to his construction work in the Italian colonies. Brasini’s professional networks, institutional work, and journalistic activity will also be traced for the first time using extensive archival documentation. In this way, a profile of Brasini emerges as a protagonist of Italian architectural happenings and trends and as a characteristic representative of the “other modernity,” which is still neglected by architectural historiography.