African Design Magazine ADM #34 October 2017 | Page 24

In order to make Libya appear even more like Italy, signs and symbols of Italy's
powerful history were transported to Libya. An example of this is the rebuilding
of the two columns that stand in Piazza San Marco in Venice overlooking the
sea in Benghazi.
hen Italy colonised Libya, it was seen as the perfect opportunity to
orchestrate a model Fascist State, through its control and design of
urban spaces.
In 1936 it was Mussolini who declared an Italian Empire, which included Libya,
Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia. Beyond the history of events and dates of Italy's
presence in Libya, could the Italian use of space in Libya, be described as
distinctly fascist?
ROMANTICIZING COLONIALISM?
Fascists desired Italy to return to the power of the Roman era, romanticizing
'rurality' and hoping to reach autarky, or self-sufficiency. The Italians controlled
and designed urban spaces in Libya as a means of forming an example of the
perfect Fascist Italy, in particular via architecture and infrastructure.
As part of this creation, Italy needed to populate Libya with Italians: specifically
good Fascist Italians. In order to do this, mere encouragement to move to Libya
was not enough, so the Governor General of Libya, Italo Balbo, organised the
relocation of Italian peasants to live and work the land of Libya. These people
were known in Fascist propaganda as the ventimila or twenty thousand.