Ghirardo underlines that the relationship between modern architecture and fascism is not as clear as recent analyzes might lead one to believe. What do you think was the aspiration for modern, “rational” architecture and why should it be associated with socialist politics? Furthermore, why was there such a close relationship between modern architecture and fascism in Italy in the pre-war years, but not in Germany? Rationalism was one of the key movements in Italy after the First World War. It aimed to broaden the scope of modern architecture by formulating clear strategies to address Italy's industrialization and urbanization. During the period when fascism and Mussolini dominated and modernism prevailed in Italy. Rationalist architects adhered to the ideals of phaseism not only politically but also stylistically. They didn't just play along with fascism in order to create architecture, but were completely invested in the movement of the time. The styles of rationalism differed from those of other totalitarian nations of the time, mainly German, whose styles tended more towards that of neoclassicism. Many historians have established that Italian fascism was not a coherent system of ideas. Full of inconsistencies, it tried to appeal to many different social groups. Adrian Lyttleton observed: “Fascist ideology was composite, an unstable functional synthesis of the needs of various social groups. It is impossible to organize the ideas current in the fascist movement into 'a relatively coherent system of generalizations about nature, society and man'." Mussolini had adopted a technique he called “scotch douche” which Smith described as “blowing hot and cold, being friendly and defiant from time to time, and… middle of paper… the analyst was to be the main architectural movement of the era. This meant that they had to heavily cement themselves in the current political environment of the time, namely fascism, and try to prove that they were the best. They believed that in a battle the winner takes all and that the enemy was left completely decimated. The attempt to "facsify" each other had left the group in a state of incoherence and sadly arguably never managed to reach the movement's full potential. This had left some of the best rationalists at work with the worst promises of fascism, of hierarchy, of efforts to exclude the lower classes from cities of all sizes, of the ostentatious celebration of the cult of the Duce, and of the rhetorical celebration of fascism. Persico identified the real problems when he commented that “taste was the only problem that separated the rationalists from other Italian architects in fascist Italy”..”