D. Medina Lasansky, The Renaissance Perfected: Architecture, Spectacle, & Tourism in Fascist Italy. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004.
From the preface: “This book examines the way in which the late Middle Ages and Renaissance were manipulated and deployed in service of politics during Italy’s Fascist regime between 1922 and 1945. . . .
The Fascist regime was by no means the first, or the last, government to deploy the medieval/Renaissance past in its political rhetoric. Celebrating the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was central to the discourse of identity politics throughout the history of modern Italy.”
See also:
Medina Lasansky and Brian McLaren eds., Architecture and Tourism: Perception, Performance, and Place. Berg, 2004.