![Sample our Social Sciences journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110822/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Social-Sciences.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
During the Fascist rule in Italy (1922–43), the regime sponsored and encouraged the construction of thousands of children’s summer camps or colonie (singular colonia) as part of a mission to shape the physical bodies and minds of the youngest citizens of the nation. Although the colonia building type originated in the nineteenth century, the regime adapted the type to their aims and constructed thousands of new camps throughout Italy, from the Alps to the shorelines of rivers, lakes, and seas. Some were tiny, no more than basic shelters; others resembled small cities. Many are known for their simple lines, profound conceptual gestures, and for fostering majestic and remarkable childhood experiences.
This paper analyses three colonie, in Cesenatico, Cattolica, and Legnano, to understand how the regime’s desire to create the Fascists of the future was translated into built form(s) by an array of young architects.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributors
Stephanie Pilat, PhD, is the Director of the Division of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. She is a designer and architectural historian whose teaching and research examine points of intersection between politics and architecture. She is the author of Reconstructing Italy: The Ina-Casa Neighborhoods of the Postwar Era (Ashgate 2014).
Paolo Sanza, RA, is an architect and Associate Professor of Architecture at Oklahoma State University. His teaching and research centre on design studio pedagogy, Italian modernism and the tectonics of architecture. Professor Sanza holds a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Design from Arizona State University.