Mussolini's Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City - Borden W. Painter, Jr.

Interesting look at how Mussolini changed the face of Rome and established from nothing many of the communities and suburbs that surround the historical city.  As you wander around central Rome, you don't realize how much of Mussolini's Rome you wander through.  Part of his presence is actually an absence, especially around many of the central historical monuments.  In these areas, he cleared away many encroaching houses and structures to make the historical architecture more visible, more present.  Many of the the longer, wide open boulevards in central Rome are also his work.  Scattered through much of the city just outside the old historical centre are more modern buildings, usually apartments - most of these date from this time and Mussolini's plans to both rebuild and increase the population of the city.   This would be true of much of the Ostiense area, significant parts of Testaccio and also the whole area south of the old Trastevere neighbourhood along Via Trastevere.  The Ostiense train station is also his work (Hitler arrived there for his visit prewar).  

The neighbourhood I would like to visit is the EUR neighbourhood - while there are other satellite towns that are wholly the creation of Mussolini's vision, this is the one most easily accessible from central Rome - next visit.

The book also contains a fair bit of the history of Fascism in Italy, but it is easy to skip these bits if you are already familiar with it.  Includes some photos, but reading in combination with Google Maps and photos is better.

Interestingly, one neighbourhood that seems to have been hardly touched is the old Trastevere neighbourhood - which may mean it stands as a record of what a fair bit of Rome looked like outside the historical centre.

There is also the theme of politics, dictatorship and how they use architecture as a means of self-aggrandizement and myth making.  There is also the element of social control:  many of the areas that were razed were poorer areas that tended to be communist or socialist.  These "undesirable" populations were relocated to areas far from the city centre where they were easier to control, also making it harder for them to both get to their work, and also to have a political presence in the central city.  (Untouched is the theme of enrichment through redevelopment of a Fascist insider business circle....)  (All of this reminds me of Erdoğan and his work in Istanbul...)