Cinema Impero, Asmara, 1937
Cinema Impero is an Art Deco cinema built in 1937 in Asmara, Eritrea, during the Italian colonial period. Designed by architect Mario Messina, it remains one of the world’s finest examples of Art Deco architecture.
Architecture
Filorimessa Atac, Rome, by Mario Loreti (1937)
A trolleybus depot designed by Roman architect Mario Loreti in 1937 for Rome’s municipal transport authority. The building exemplifies the functional modernism of Italy’s interwar period.
Giuseppe Galliano Elementary School, Ceva
The elementary school in Ceva, Piedmont, honours a decorated Italian military officer. The building is one of several civic memorials to Galliano in his hometown.
Casa Mazzotti, Albissola Marina by Nicolay Diulgheroff
A residence, studio and shop built between 1930 and 1934 in Liguria, designed by Bulgarian architect Nicolay Diulgheroff for artist Tullio d’Albisola. One of the few intact examples of Futurist architecture surviving to the present day.
Chiesa, Borgo Petilia, Caltanissetta
A church in Borgo Petilia, a rural settlement in Sicily designed by architect Edoardo Caracciolo in 1939 as part of Italy’s interwar agricultural reorganization programme.
Istituto Tecnico Commerciale Agostino Bassi, Lodi
A commercial technical institute in Lodi named after the 19th-century naturalist Agostino Bassi, an entomologist who pioneered germ theory.
Casa Littoria, Aosta, by Giuseppe Momo (1939)
A Rationalist administrative building in Aosta designed by architect Giuseppe Momo in 1939, originally built as Casa Littoria for the Fascist Party and now serving as the municipal Department of Industry.
Palazzina Azzurra, San Benedetto del Tronto, 1934
The Palazzina Azzurra is a Rationalist building completed in 1934 in San Benedetto del Tronto, Ascoli Piceno. Designed by engineer Luigi Onorati, it served as a leisure and social venue for the coastal town.
Rationalist Architecture in Interwar Italy
Between the wars, Italian architects including Giuseppe Terragni and Marcello Piacentini developed rationalist design emphasizing simple, functional forms. The movement, organized through the Group 7 and later MIAR, synthesized international modernism with classical principles.