Italian colonists in the Dodecanese
Italian colonists were settled in the Dodecanese Islands of the
By 1940, the number of Italians settled in the Dodecanese was almost 8,000, concentrated mainly in Rhodes. In 1947, after the Second World War, the islands came into the possession of Greece: as a consequence most of the Italians were forced to emigrate and all of the Italian schools were closed. However, their architectural legacy is still evident, especially in Rhodes and Leros.
History
The
In the 1930s, Mussolini embarked on a program of Italianization, intending to make the island a modern transportation hub that would facilitate the spread of Italian culture in Greece and the Levant. The Fascist program coincided with the construction of infrastructure.[1] The concrete-dominated architectural style of this period has consequently been largely demolished or remodeled, apart from the example of the Leros town of Lakki (founded by the Italians as Portolago), which remains an example of Italian Rationalism.[2]
From 1923 to 1936, governor
In the 1936 Italian census of the Dodecanese islands, the total population was 129,135, of which 7,015 were Italians. Nearly 80% of the Italian colonists lived in the island of Rhodes. Approximately 40,000 Italian soldiers and sailors were on military duty in the Dodecanese islands in 1940.
Fascist
During
Disappearance of the Italian community
For the nearly 8,000 Italian colonists, after the Italian defeat in World War II, started a process of return to Italy and successive disappearance. The Dodecanese officially passed from Italy to Greece in 1947, and in that year all the Italian schools were closed. Some of the Italian colonists remained in Rhodes and were quickly assimilated. Currently, only a few dozen old colonists remain, but the influence of their legacy is evident in the relative diffusion of the Italian language mainly in Rhodes and Leros.
Architectural legacy
The citadel of
In the 1920s, the Italians demolished the houses that were built in and around the city walls during the
Indeed, in all the Dodecanese islands remains a huge architectural legacy[5] from the Italian colonists. Here are some examples:
- The Grande Albergo delle Rose (now "Casino Rodos") built by Florestano Di Fausto and Michele Platania in 1927, with a mix of Arab, Byzantine and Venetian styles.
- The Casa del Fascio of Rhodes, built in 1939 in typical fascist style. It serves now as the City Hall.
- The Catholic church of San Giovanni, built in 1925 by Rodolfo Petracco, as a reconstruction of the medieval cathedral church of the Knights of St. John.
- The Teatro Puccini of the city of Rhodes, now called "National Theater", built in 1937 with 1,200 seats.
- The Palazzo del Governatore in downtown Rhodes, built in 1927 in Venetian style. It now houses the offices of the Prefecture of the Dodecanese.
- The Villaggio rurale San Benedetto, now Kolympia village, built in 1938 as a planned model village with all modern services.
- The Community of Portolago (now Lakki) in the island of Leros, built in 1938 in typical Italian Deco style.
Notes
- ^ "Fare gli Italiani dell'Egeo: il Dodecaneso dall'Impero ottomano all'Impero del fascismo" (PDF) (in Italian). Retrieved 6 June 2023.
- ^ "LAKKI, UN TESORO DI ARCHITETTURA RAZIONALISTA SU UNA SPERDUTA ISOLA GRECA" (in Italian). Retrieved 6 June 2023.
- ^ "Gli anni dorati 1923 - 1936" (in Italian). Dodecaneso. Archived from the original on 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
- ISBN 978-1-85828-883-3.
- ^ "Architettura" (in Italian). Dodecaneso. Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
Bibliography
- Antonicelli, Franco. Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945. Mondadori. Torino, 1961.
- Clogg, Richard. A Concise History of Greece. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, 2002.
- Doumanis, Nicholas. Italians as "Good" Colonizers: Speaking Subalterns and the Politics of Memory in the Dodecanese, in ISBN 0-312-23649-2.
- Manicone, Gino. Italiani in Egeo La Monastica. Casamari, 1989.
- Pignataro, Luca. Le Isole Italiane dell'Egeo dall'8 settembre 1943 al termine della seconda guerra mondiale in "Clio. Rivista internazionale di studi storici", 3 (2001)
- Pignataro, Luca. Il tramonto del Dodecaneso italiano 1945-1950 in "Clio. Rivista internazionale di studi storici", 4 (2001)
- Pignataro, Luca Ombre sul Dodecaneso italiano in "Nuova Storia Contemporanea" 3 (2008)
- Pignataro, Luca Il Dodecaneso italiano, con appendice fotografica, in "Nuova Storia Contemporanea" 2 (2010)
See also
- Italian Dodecanese
- Italian Empire