Traces of fascist agrarian colonization in the Mediterranean. Territorial models in Libya and Sicily compared

This study investigates the patterns of fascist agrarian colonization in the Mediterranean, with a comparative analysis of territorial models implemented in Libya and Sicily between 1936 and 1940. Using redrawing as a morphological analysis tool, it interprets both the material and immaterial traces of rural colonization, linking them to the historical debates on rurality and Mediterranean rationalism. The research highlights the tension between adherence to local cultural and environmental contexts and the imposition of standardized interventions, which anticipated early forms of modernist globalization. By focusing on “minor” cases of Italian rationalist production, the study emphasizes their contribution to landscape design and proposes a re-reading of these examples as an original articulation of Italian modernism. Comparative analysis reveals divergent approaches: the Libyan model reflects a military-style imposition on a tabula rasa, whereas the Sicilian model engages with pre-existing territorial structures, adopting a palimpsestic approach that aligns architectural intervention with landscape and settlement logics. This framework contributes to a broader understanding of how ideology, territory, and design intersect in the production of landscape and rural settlements under fascist rule.