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# On the pediment of the Palace of Italian Civilisation, built in 1938-1940 by the architects Guerrini, La Padula and Romano, Mussolini's quotation of 2 October 1935 is still inscribed: "A people of poets, artists, heroes, saints, thinkers, scientists…
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/na-frontone-dvortsa-italianskoi-tsivilizatsii-postroennogo-v-1938-1940-arkhitektorami-gerrini-lapaduloi-i-romano-do-sikh-por-nachertana-tsitata-mussolini-ot-2-oktiabria-1935-g-narod-poe/
- Published: 2024-05-01T09:40:27.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:33:54.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Heritage, Rome

On the pediment of the Palace of Italian Civilisation, built in 1938-1940 by the architects Guerrini, La Padula and Romano, Mussolini's quotation of 2 October 1935 is still inscribed: "A people of poets, of artists, of heroes, of saints, of thinkers, of scientists, of navigators, of migrants". The palace was built for the 20th anniversary of the March on Rome by the Fascists under Benito Mussolini and was meant to open at the World's Fair in Rome. This did not come to pass, because war broke out. In the Square Colosseum, as the Romans nicknamed it, the Germans set up car workshops. In the years that followed it housed offices, and then desolation in place of the pompous Palace of the Italian Nation.

The futuristic architecture alludes to a Roman-Ostrogothic style, as though King Theodoric himself had devised it. The building is faced entirely in white limestone travertine. The palace has six levels, each of nine arches: six is the number of letters in the name Benito, and nine the number of letters in the surname Mussolini.

Around the magnificent building, which greets us from afar on the road to Fiumicino airport, 28 marble statues with allegories of the virtues and the arts stand in the colonnade, and in front of the palace are sculptures of the Dioscuri, the valiant twin brothers Castor and Pollux, legendary patrons of sailors and travellers.

What is interesting is not only that Mussolini's quotation has been preserved, but also the presence of the cult figures of the Dioscuri, who were, incidentally, by divine genealogy the sons of the supreme deity, Zeus. The Christian tradition did not count the Dioscuri among rival cults and did not abolish their appearance in popular culture. In Rome men swore by the Dioscuri when concluding solemn vows and delivering pompous speeches, and the warrior brothers were most revered among the aristocracy. With the coming of Christianity they were identified with other saintly male tandems, the apostles Peter and Paul, or Cosmas and Damian.

Since 2015 the long-empty Palace has been home to the Roman brand Fendi, which has placed its headquarters and fur workshops here.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_12076@01-05-2024_12-40-27.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_12077@01-05-2024_12-40-27.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_12078@01-05-2024_12-40-27.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_12079@01-05-2024_12-40-27.jpg)