in
Art, Culture & Design
—
Fendi's Roman HQ: The Fascist Secret Hidden in Its Architecture
Luxury fashion house Fendi's HQ, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, is an icon of Fascist-era architecture. But its grand facade hides a chilling tribute: 6 rows of arches for 'Benito' and 9 for 'Mussolini,' a secret embedded in stone.
When luxury fashion house Fendi moved its global headquarters in 2015, it chose a Roman landmark of jaw-dropping scale and beauty: the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana. Known as the "Colosseo Quadrato" or Square Colosseum, its stark white travertine marble and mesmerizing rows of arches create a powerful, minimalist aesthetic. But beneath the chic, modern veneer of a fashion giant lies a dark and deliberate secret from one of Italy's most painful historical chapters.
A Monument to a Dictator
The Palazzo was the centerpiece of the Esposizione Universale Roma (EUR), a new district designed for a World's Fair in 1942 that was meant to celebrate 20 years of Italian Fascism. The fair never happened due to World War II, but its architecture remains. The building, a masterpiece of Rationalist architecture, was designed to be a potent symbol of the new Fascist Roman Empire envisioned by Benito Mussolini.
Its monumental design was pure propaganda. Along the top is an inscription from a 1935 speech by Mussolini, declaring Italians to be "a people of poets, of artists, of heroes, of saints, of thinkers, of scientists, of navigators, of transmigrators." It was built not just as an exhibition hall, but as a monument to a political ideology.
The Chilling Secret in the Arches
While the building's origin is no secret, a more sinister tribute is encoded directly into its facade, hidden in plain sight. The symmetrical grid of arches is not an arbitrary design choice. The facade features six rows of arches down and nine columns of arches across.
Six letters in the name "BENITO."
Nine letters in the name "MUSSOLINI."
This architectural numerology turns the entire structure into a subtle, permanent monument to the dictator himself. For decades, the building stood mostly empty, an imposing and uncomfortable relic of a past that Italy struggled to confront. Its chilling secret remained a point of trivia mostly known to architects, historians, and locals.
From Propaganda to High Fashion
In 2015, Fendi leased the building for 15 years, funding a multi-million euro restoration to transform it into its global headquarters. The move sparked a significant debate: can a commercial entity, especially one centered on glamour and luxury, occupy a space so deeply rooted in a dark ideology without sanitizing its history?
Proponents argue that this is an act of preservation and adaptive reuse. Fendi has brought life back to an abandoned architectural masterpiece, ensuring its survival. As part of the agreement, the ground floor is open to the public, hosting free art and design exhibitions. In this view, Fendi is reclaiming the space for culture and creativity—the very things Mussolini's inscription claimed to celebrate, but in a new, democratic context.
An Uncomfortable Legacy
Critics, however, worry that placing a globally recognized luxury brand within the Palazzo's walls inevitably softens its grim origins. The building's aesthetic—powerful, clean, and monumental—is undeniably appealing, but it is an aesthetic born from a totalitarian regime. Does its use as a backdrop for high fashion disconnect the architecture from its history, turning a fascist symbol into just another cool, Instagrammable location?
The story of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana is a fascinating case study in how we interact with difficult history. It forces us to ask whether beauty can be separated from ideology and whether a building can ever truly be scrubbed of its original sin. For Fendi, it is a stunning headquarters. For history, it remains a stone monument with a chilling, six-by-nine secret.