«Meaningful in its contents and insightful in its analyses. Fascist Modernism narrates a paradoxical story in which innovative expressive potentials and censorship, art for the masses and underground and elite culture can coexist. A book to be read both for cultural enrichment and for pleasure.»

Professor Maddalena Mazzocut-Mis, Università Statale, Milan, Italy

«Neither autonomous nor heteronomous to fascism, the arts functioned as myth-making machines and styled the regime as modern. In this remarkably cross-disciplinary research, by analysing literature, painting, sculpture and architecture in fascist Italy, Billiani untangles the knot between artistic production, totalitarian regimes and aesthetics, ultimately demonstrating how the arts shaped the very identity of the fascist regime.»

Dr Alvise Sforza-Tarabochia, University of Kent, UK

«Billiani assembled a holistic framework in which the price of exhibition tickets and the finer points of aesthetic theory appear as complementary facets of an emerging political order. The result is an impressive tour de force, a dialectical kaleidoscope that is both dazzling and informative. A must read for anyone interested in the mutual construction of art and authoritarian power, and the dynamics underpinning their re-negotiation.»

Dr Gerardo Serra, History, University of Manchester, UK

«Francesca Billiani invites us to push the boundaries of a monolithic and simplistic view of State art to embrace the complexities of the relationship between arts and power with a courageous interdisciplinary approach. […] the author convincingly demonstrates how the arts have contributed to the shaping of authoritarian practices […], arguing for literature, visual arts, sculpture and architecture to be read not as distinctive and separate fields rather as parts of a complex cultural system.»

Italian Studies

«Fascist Modernism in Italy is an impressive critical tour-de-force across numerous and varied objects of study: from journals, newsreels, public and private buildings, to paintings and even flying war machines. It will appeal not only to scholars interested in the osmosis between the arts and totalitarian power but also to anyone who seeks to enrich their knowledge of Italian 1930s visual art, literature and the debates informing them.»

Annali d'Italianistica