Torre littoria
In the Fascist architecture of Italy, a torre littoria (plural torri littorie) 'lictor tower' or torre del littorio is a monumental tower, a building type, sponsored by the Italian Fascist Party between 1933 and 1940. They "fused monumentality, rationalism and classicism in the service of the imperial vision of the state" and "commemorate[d] the Fascist revolution".[1] Many are attached to a Casa del Fascio, but some are free-standing, such as the Torre Littoria of Turin. Many use the vocabulary of Italian rationalist style. They often include clocks or bells. The tower base sometimes included a Sacrario ai Caduti Fascisti 'shrine to Fascist martyrs', which was usually removed after the fall of the Fascist regime. Most of them were renamed after WWII.
In 1932, Achille Starace, the national secretary of the Fascist Party (PNF) decreed that every Casa del Fascio should have a torre littoria with bells to announce Fascist ceremonial events.[2]
The building type was first created in Arezzo in 1933 from a restored medieval tower.[3] It included a large bell and a memorial to Fascist martyrs.[1]
By the mid-1930s, they were ubiquitous:[1]
- Turin: Torre Littoria, a freestanding office building[4]
- Milan: Torre Branca, originally the Torre Littoria, a free-standing steel lattice tower in the Parco Sempione
- Varese: Civic Tower, freestanding
- Como: incorporated into the main block of its Casa del Fascio and not projecting beyond it
- Lissone, incorporated into its Casa del Fascio
- Predappio, part of its Casa del Fascio[5]
- Salerno, part of its Casa Littoria; at the base of the tower was a large hall with a shrine to the dead of the First World War[6]
- Arezzo[1]
- Biella
- Sestri Levante[7]
- Soresina
- Casalmaggiore,[8][9] functioned as a water tower
- Rhodes (Italian Dodecanese)[10]
- Mogadishu (Italian Somaliland), part of its Casa del Fascio
- Addis Ababa (Italian East Africa), planned but never built[11]
The city plans of Fascist new towns (Foundation Cities) generally included torri littorie in their central piazza as part of their Case del Fascio, e.g., in Aprilia (demolished),[12] Carbonia, Fertilia,[13] Guidonia Montecelio,[1] Sabaudia, and Torviscosa.[14]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Lasansky, D. Medina (2004). The Renaissance Perfected: Architecture, Spectacle, and Tourism in Fascist Italy. Penn State Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-271-02366-3.
- ↑ Leonardi, Francesca (2023). On dissonance and fascist heritage in Italy: An analysis on the reuse of ex-Case del Fascio in three provinces (Ph.D. dissertation). Lucca, Italy: IMT School for Advanced Studies. p. 90., quoting the Dizionario del Fascismo, p. 255
- ↑ "State Archives". Discover Arezzo. Retrieved 2026-05-07.
- ↑ "Torre, detta Littoria". Museo Torino (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-05-06.
- ↑ Storchi, Simona (2019). "The ex-Casa del Fascio in Predappio and the question of the'difficult heritage' of Fascism in contemporary Italy" (PDF). Modern Italy. 24 (2): 1–19. doi:10.1017/mit.2019.8.
- ↑ Magliano, Daniele (2020-07-19). "Il Palazzo "Littorio" a Salerno: l'edificio più importante del regime fascista". SalernoNews24.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-05-07.
- ↑ "La Casa Littoria di Sestri". Annali del Fascismo (in Italian). 4 (7): 17. July 1934.
- ↑ "Comune di Casalmaggiore". Comunicando Cultura (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-05-12.
- ↑ Calvaresi, Samantha (2021-04-26). "Lictorian Tower - Aqueduct". Comunicando Cultura. Retrieved 2026-05-12.
- ↑ Bruno, Aurelio (2025-07-07). Dodecanese, One Hundred Years Later: Rhodes. Vol. 1: A short photographic guide (2nd ed.). Edizioni A.V.I.A.P.S. p. 16. ISBN 979-8-2914-1380-7.
- ↑ Ponte, Gio (1936). "Design for the Development Plan of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia". Gio Ponti Archives. Retrieved 2026-05-07.
- ↑ Alamy, Ltd. "Piazza del Comune and Casa del Fascio, Aprilia". Alamy. Retrieved 2026-05-07.
- ↑ "Torre Littoria". DGABAP - Beni culturali abbandonati (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-05-12.
- ↑ Lo, Ruth (2013-03-14). "The Architecture and Planning of Fascist New Towns in Sardinia". Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved 2026-05-06.