The Making of a Dissonant Heritage: the Foro Italico in Rome

Abstract

Italy's long and stratified history offers abundant heritage resources, with Rome serving as a showcase for the architectural embodiment of political and ideological changes over time. Among these periods, the Fascist regime under Benito Mussolini initiated extensive urban and architectural renewal projects, notably exemplified by the Foro Italico, a monumental sports complex that is still actively used. The present contribution retraces the elements constituting Fascist architectural heritage in Italy and explores how Italian people comprehend and interpret the dissonant heritage site of the Foro Italico. Departing from previous approaches, this research employs a conservation perspective, exploring, among others, architectural and socio-cultural values associated with the complex. By analysing the motives underlying its unceasing use, this study seeks to understand why citizens continue to create new experiences and memories at the site despite its contentious ideological symbolism, without undergoing modern damnatio memoriae or de-commemoration processes, thus contributing to ongoing debates on heritage management and the politics of memory.