Rationalism

What is Italian rationalism and where did it come from?

Italian rationalism, called razionalismo in Italy, is an architectural movement of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Its best-known programme came from Gruppo 7. The group was made up of young architects who had recently graduated from the Milan Polytechnic. The movement is best understood through its groups, magazines and exhibitions as much as through single buildings.

How did Gruppo 7 set out its programme?

Gruppo 7 published its programme in four parts in the journal Rassegna Italiana. The parts appeared in December 1926, February 1927, March 1927 and May 1927. Its members were Sebastiano Larco, Guido Frette, Carlo Enrico Rava, Adalberto Libera, Luigi Figini, Gino Pollini and Giuseppe Terragni. The Treccani biography of Terragni says that he signed the group's founding document in December 1926.

The group consciously rejected the citation of historical styles in the sense of eclecticism. It drew instead on basic building types such as the temple, the basilica, the rotunda and the dome. For the older approach it rejected, see eclecticism.

How did the movement move from a group to an organisation?

In 1928 the first Esposizione italiana di architettura razionale opened in Rome. Adalberto Libera and Gaetano Minnucci organised it. The Movimento Italiano per l'Architettura Razionale, known as MIAR, was established after it, and nearly 50 architects joined.

The organised life of the movement was short. One source records that after the 1931 Rome exhibition the National Fascist Architects' Association dissolved it on 9 May 1931. It adds that the regime saw rationalist work as too radical. Other accounts describe the end of MIAR differently, and we could not open them. Check any date for MIAR against a primary source before you quote it.

Date	Event	Source
December 1926	Terragni signs the Gruppo 7 founding document	Treccani biography
December 1926 to May 1927	Programme published in four parts in Rassegna Italiana	Modernism in Architecture
1928	First Italian Exhibition of Rational Architecture in Rome, MIAR established afterwards	Modernism in Architecture
1931	Rome exhibition, movement dissolved on 9 May	Modernism in Architecture
1932 to 1936	Terragni builds the Casa del Fascio in Como	Treccani biography

Why did rationalism become tied to the Fascist regime?

Rationalists wanted the state to adopt their style. In 1933 Giuseppe Pagano became editor of Casabella, alongside Edoardo Persico. Together they promoted rationalism as the official style of the state. The sources opened here do not show that the state adopted it. Ernesto Nathan Rogers later called the alliance with fascism a mistake, based on a philosophical misunderstanding.

Terragni's career shows the ties. His brother Attilio was podestà of Como from 1934 to 1943. Terragni designed room O of the 1932 Mostra della rivoluzione fascista in Rome, using full-wall photomontages. He also drew up a Danteum project, which was never built. These ties do not show a single political programme for every architect in the group.

What does the Casa del Fascio in Como show about the style?

Terragni built the Casa del Fascio in Como between 1932 and 1936. Treccani says that he reworked the rationalist grid there. He removed symmetry and gave the four facades different compositions. He also set the building directly on the ground, which gave it a sense of weight.

The building shows that the movement was more than a rejection of historical quotation. Order came from the plan, the volumes and the site, not from a symmetrical front.

How is Italian rationalism different from functionalism?

Functionalism is the broader term. The functionalism entry on this site describes an early 20th-century movement in which form emerges from function and structure. Italian rationalism is tied to one national debate. Its architects drew on basic building types. They also argued with the regime about the official style.

Aspect	Italian rationalism	Functionalism
Core origin	Gruppo 7, graduates of the Milan Polytechnic, 1926	A European movement of the 1920s and 1930s
Source of order	Basic types such as temple, basilica, rotunda and dome	Function, structure and the working of the building
Relation to the state	Rationalists promoted it as the official style in 1933	Varied by country
Typical reference	The Casa del Fascio in Como	Buildings and theory covered under the functionalism entry

What should a Slovak client know before using the label?

When a client asks for a "rationalist" building, ask which meaning they intend. They may mean the Italian line of Gruppo 7 and MIAR. They may mean the wider modern movement. Many Slovak buildings of the same decades are better described in the vocabulary of Czechoslovak functionalism. No source opened for this page documents a direct Italian influence on Czechoslovak buildings, so this page makes no such claim.

The Italian term does not stand for the whole interwar period. Italian rationalist buildings belong to a specific national debate.

What does a protected building from this era mean for an owner?

A style label does not decide legal protection. Act 49/2002 defines a cultural monument as a thing of heritage value that the authority declares a cultural monument (§ 2 ods. 3). The owner of a cultural monument carries out its basic protection at their own expense (§ 28 ods. 2 písm. a). Before a renovation, the owner asks the regional heritage office for a decision on the renovation intent (§ 32 ods. 2). The text read for this page is the version in force from 1 April 2025.

What are the common misconceptions about rationalism?

• Rationalism did not reject all history. The group rejected historical quotation in the sense of eclecticism, but it drew on basic building types.
• Rationalism was not simply a Fascist style. Its architects worked under the regime, and one source says the regime saw the work as too radical.
• Dates for the organisational changes around 1928 and 1931 vary between sources, so check any date against a primary source before you quote it.