In 1919, Benito Mussolini, a former revolutionary socialist, founded a new movement called Fascismo. Through a combination of shrews political manoeuvring and widespread violence perpetrated by Mussolini black shirt squads, the Fascists gained increasing support. In October 1922, after the Fascists had marched on Rome, King Victor Emmanuel III named Mussolini prime minister. Within four years, he had established himself as a dictator.

Ambitious architectural building projects from the 1920s to the 1940s are still visible around the capital city of Rome today, and would have been even more widespread had the fascist regime lasted longer. Fascist architecture appears here and there in the historical centre of Rome, but it is most present south of the centre in the Mussolini-conceived E.U.R. district, and at the Foro Italico sports complex north of the city. Many buildings were inspired by imperial Roman art and architecture, but modified to be colder, more sterile, and more totalitarian.

E.U.R. stands for Esposizione Unversale Roma. This large complex was built since 1935 by Mussolini as symbol of fascism for the world; he wanted to expand the new Rome in the west part, to connect it to the sea. The E.U.R. was originally conceived for the 1942 world exhibition, which would never take place since Italy entered the war in 1940.

The E.U.R. provides a good image of how urban Italy would have looked if the fascist regime would not have fallen; large, symmetrical streets and cold, Roman-inspired buildings. The most representative building of this style is the Palazzo delle Civiltą, which was supposed to look like the Colosseum. During the 1950s and 1960s, old buildings were completed, and other new buildings were constructed in the same style - housing offices, ministries, large gardens and great parks.