Speaking from the Walls: Militarism, Education, and Romanità in Rome’s Città Universitaria (1932–35)

The Città Universitaria (or University City), built in Rome in the mid-1930s, used the reception of classical culture as a propaganda tool through its architecture, art, urban layout, and use of epigraphy. As Flavia Marcello and Paul Gwynne demonstrate, these elements communicated the broad sociopolitical construct of militarism and education characteristic of the Italian Fascist period. Building inscriptions using the immortal words of classical authors had both didactic and referential functions: they spoke peremptorily of accepted modes of behavior and highlighted the role of educated youth in the destiny of an (ideal) Fascist society within its teleological project of Romanità as past, current, and future glory. Speaking from the Walls: Militarism, Education, and Romanità in Rome’s Città Universitaria (1932–35) weaves together sociopolitical, cultural, and architectural frameworks through the study of epigraphy as a carefully constructed presence within orchestrated urban and interior space. Epigraphy completed the spatial experience of architecture in its urban context to construct the collective memory and identity of past, present, and future citizens of Italy.