Chapter Three - Post-Unification Placemaking (1870–1922)

Summary

After having detailed the narratives and agents of the ideological placemaking in modern Rome, this chapter shows how the rediscovery of classical architecture of the Urbs started soon after the Unification of Italy. Quite often considered as almost insignificant years in Italian history, the period between 1870 and Mussolini’s seizure of power in 1922 was the starting point for the realisation of the ideological renovations perpetrated by the fascist regime on a grander scale. It was a slow process of restructuring and remodelling the Eternal City, a first attempt to modernise the cityscape in line with what was happening within other European capital cities. Behind the scenes of the renovation, the monuments’ classical charm was emphasised through imposing urban projects, the construction of new architecture, and the vast archaeological excavations that focused on the heart of imperial Rome.