A Facist Monument in Modern Rome

Unlike their counterparts in other cities, modern Rome’s urban planners have the weight of over 2,000 years of material culture to consider when making changes to the metropolis.

During the Fascist period, Mussolini (rendered at right before the Colosseum) attempted to create a modern landscape in the midst of Rome’s ancient monuments. But he soon realized the difficulties involved in the undertaking, changed his plans and proposed a new government center south of Rome. Known as the Universal Exposition of Rome, this project was only partially implemented before the fall of the Fascist regime.

During the following decades, many people dismissed Mussolini’s interest in archaeology as a symptom of his megalomania, of his need to be recognized as the new Augustus. In the 1980s, officials planned to demolish a boulevard built by Mussolini, now named the Via dei Fori Imperiali, which cut through Rome’s ancient forums. These plans were met with fierce protests, however, which stopped the demolition. In the 1990s archaeologists chipped away at grassy areas bordering the road—revealing previously unknown areas of the Forum Transitorium (Forum of Nerva) and providing a better understanding of the relationship between the Forum of Trajan and the Forum of Augustus—but left the Fascist-era boulevard intact.