Conservation and Reuse of the Casa del Fascio of Predappio: a “Difficult Heritage”

The Casa del Fascio e dell’Ospitalità of Predappio, built in Benito Mussolini’s birthplace between 1934 and 1937, is a building that, more than others, symbolises the "architectural propaganda" of the Fascist regime in Italy between the two world wars. Designed by the architect Arnaldo Fuzzi, it was intended as a manifesto of both the modernity of Italian architecture and the power of the Fascist regime. Because it was such an iconic piece of Fascist architecture, in the post-war period the building, which soon began to show signs of material decay, fell into a state of neglect despite several attempts to reuse it, becoming a kind of “dead monument”. When in 2010 the ex-Casa del Fascio of Predappio was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest by the Ministry of Culture, projects for its preservation and enhancement received a boost, and a debate on its legacy was sparked within the broader issue of the re-evaluation of the Fascist rationalist architecture in Italy – a trend which has proved to be both a means of valorizing a significant urban and architectural heritage and a reason to reflect on the ways in which historical objects full of negative connotations could be reinterpreted in terms of their impact on civic perception. This concern seemed particularly valid in Mussolini’s birthplace, where every year a small but significant number of neo-fascists from across Italy gather to celebrate the Duce’s memory. The present paper brings together both historical and architectural preservation issues, following the path of the current project for the conservation and reuse of the Casa del Fascio, which started in 2019, and searching through the concept of ‘adaptive reuse’ a way to the preservation of a “difficult heritage”.