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Fascist legacy endures in Rome's architecture

SUMMARY

While Germany systematically wiped out traces of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime after World War II, the legacy of his Axis ally, Benito Mussolini, remains present in Italy even today. Many monuments and symbols glorifying Mussolini's two-decade rule were removed following the war, but a surprising number remain in plain view in Rome, reflecting Italy's complicated relationship with its 20th-century history.

By AP May 24, 2019 10:05:39 AM IST (Updated)


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A bronze sculpture by Italo Griselli, known under the Fascist regime as "Saluto Fascista" (Fascist Salute) and after the war renamed Genio dello Sport (Genius of Sport), stands at the entrance of a fascist architecture building in the EUR neighbourhood, in Rome. Mussolini transformed Rome’s urban landscape with grand construction projects like EUR, a new city district that was originally designed as a celebration of fascism for a world fair in 1942. The fair was cancelled due to WWII and construction was halted but resumed after the war. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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A view of the Palazzo della Civilta' Italiana, also known as the Square Colosseum, in the EUR district of Rome. On its façade is engraved a phrase from Mussolini's 1935 speech announcing Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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