Observing Memories Issue 3 | Page 29

1 highlighting an area in which Italian culture and institutions are lagging behind. It focuses our attention on the relationship between Italian democracy and its Fascist past, standing on the frontier between the two and serving as an outpost where the weight of the divided memories can be measured. In defining the purposes and uses of the Casa del Fascio, the local authorities were supported by research groups and an international scientific 2 committee. Today a preliminary project dealing with both structural and museographic aspects has been approved, and the task of definitive planning is underway. The hope of the democratic sector of Italian society is that this great project can fill the 1. Building of the former Casa del Fascio e dell’Ospitalitá | EUROM 2. Private mausoleum of Mussolini in the ceme- tery of Predappio | EUROM gap in knowledge, especially among the younger generations, about a twenty-year period that was crucial to the life of the country, and at the same time can transform the perception of the cultural vestiges and symbols of the dictatorship into an opportunity for the reaffirmation of universal rights. In this way Predappio can undergo a profound transformation, from a place of celebration of a dictatorial regime to an international context of reaffirmation of the values of democracy. Deep VIEW 27