African Design Magazine ADM #34 October 2017 | Page 25

LIBYA - THE
ROMAN FANTASY
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.
Their presence in Libya is very interesting. In preparation for their arrival,
villages were built across Libya; mainly nearer the coast and in the more fertile
parts. This idea of creating peasant villages on what was thought of as 'empty
space' can be seen as an embodiment of Fascist ideology and also proving its
functionality as a practical structure.
Even though the building designs followed the fashions of fascism, the space
created to live in was distinctly Italian - more importantly, it was not Libyan.
PRIVACY VS PRIVILEGE
Typically the Italian se lement villages had a central square, therefore
maintaining a point of reunion and the spatial shape of Italian life. These spaces
do not take into account the privacy and needs of the Libyans; typical Arab
houses have a positive space bias, therefore allowing more private internal
space for the family.
This means the creation of private courtyards are open to view only by those in
the house, rather than having gardens around the exterior of the house. 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. They had absolutely no historical place in Libya and not even any
symbolic meaning for the fascist regime, but they helped
recreate Libya into a real Fourth Shore of Italy.
Like bad ta oo, to this day Fascism has left a mark on the
Libyan landscape. This li le known area of Italian history
helps us to see a different perspective of Italy but also of
the Libyan revolution. Libya has had centuries of foreign
rule: before Italy, Libya was part of the O oman Empire.
It shows the many levels of external groups' expression
that make up today's Libya. The Libyans will now have
to work out how to form a new Libya and create their
own expression from this, just as the Italians and Gaddafi
did before them.  
Advertisement of Banca d”Italia,
Italian Overseas Exhibition, 1940.
Benghazi in 1938
africandesignmagazine.com 26