Featuring the combined design efforts of both Piacentini and Pagano, the Palazzo Della Civilta Italiana in Rome was designed as a monumental permanent exhibition hall specifically for the General International Exhibition to be held in 1942. Piacentini served as chief architect for the project. 

 

In both aesthetic and design, this monument draws from both the Vernacularist and Rationalist philosophies of Fascist Italian supremacy. The building's facade utilizes a proportional Roman arch repeated throughout a 6x7 grid. The facade itself tapers 3cm each floor, offering optical correction similar in vein to that done on Classical buildings. The building is often referred to as the Colosseo Quadrato (Square Colosseum) due to its resemblance to the Flavian Amphitheater which may have served as precedent.

 

The building achieves a minimalist aesthetic, embracing Pagano's rationalism through its lack of ornamentation beyond the sleek archways. From a distance, the surface of the structure is perceptually textureless, making it seem almost conceptual, but upon closer examination, the sand-blasted travertine slab facing is revealed. The internal structure of the monument is actually a steel-reinforced concrete skeleton which, in turn, narrows in thickness as it ascends floors.

 

The travertine slabs, however, are not hung on this structure (as would be expected in a curtain wall). Rather, courses of brick infill between the concrete structure and the travertine. The travertine slabs themselves alternate in thickness each course allowing them to compositely interlock with the infill. This in mind, the travertine and brick of the structure actually serve as a load-bearing element. The slabs are further secured by iron ties which fasten them to the internal structure.

 

In form, material, and construction, the Palazzo Della Civilta Italiana manages to simultaneously venerate the Roman Classical origins of Italy as well as the technological prowess and forward-looking ideals of the regime.