L'impiego del calcestruzzo armato nei contesti periferici. Mercato Saraceno durante il Ventennio

Mercato Saraceno, a small town in Romagna, lived a time of intense architectural activity during the fascist era. Arnaldo Mussolini, the little brother of Benito and director of the most influential Italian newspaper at that time, chose to build a private studio in the place of origin of his wife, Augusta Bondanini. Here, he greeted politicians of that period and also a lot of intellectuals, raising Mercato Saraceno to the honours of the chronicle. In those years, many buildings of public utility were built with the purpose of constructing a new image of this little peripheral context. Interesting examples are the local Casa del Fascio designed by the architect Ugo Dolcini, the Casa del Balilla of the Roman Cesare Valle, the “Augusta Mussolini” Kindergarten by Pietro Reciputi from Cesena, as well as the “Sandro Italico Mussolini” Old Age Home of the same architect. A lot of interventions on the built heritage are also completed, one for all the enlargement of the local hospital, but also the restoration of the Palazzo Comunale, damaged by an earthquake at the end of the 1910s. Thus, the paper aim at focusing on the different way the reinforced concrete was used in some of these important works for Mercato Saraceno during the Fascist Era. The purpose is to verify how and how much the context influenced the technical choices.