A Square, a Museum and a Monument: Piazza Venezia in Rome after World War II

Piazza Venezia in Rome has been heavily characterized by its connection to the Italian Fascist Regime. First the Venetian and Austrian embassy, then Benito Mussolini’s headquarters, Palazzo Venezia represents the incarnation of the Fascist Regime in the Italian cultural memory. Despite being the headquarters of the Italian Prime Minister during the 1920s and 1930s, Palazzo Venezia never stopped being a museum. This paper aims to point out how both the Museo di Palazzo Venezia (and the Vittoriano) have managed their Fascist inheritance after World War II in the shadow of constitutional law and how this inheritance has shaped the cultural and political history of this site.