Abstract

Since 1945, Italy and the Italians have also had to confront the Fascist legacy at the monumental and symbolic level. During the Ventennio urban spaces had been largely exploited as instruments of the Fascist totalitarian project. After the Second World War, the iconoclastic violence against Fascist symbols slowed down because of the internal political scenario and because of the international framework of the Cold War. Many Fascist buildings (railway stations, hospitals, courts of justice, schools, stadiums) were preserved due to their civic usefulness. Indeed the new Italian Republic delayed the confrontation with the Fascist past, promoting for a long time the image of «good-hearted Italian people». The article focuses on the impact that the presence of Fascist legacy in urban space still has on the current historiographical and political debates.