ex Casa del Fascio

Ex Casa del Fascio stands in Como as a Rationalist building designed by Giuseppe Terragni. Completed in 1936, it occupies a square plan measuring just over 33 metres on each side. Its four storeys rise about 16.5 metres, exactly half the length of the base. Four steps lead from the piazza to the slightly elevated entrance.

Built as the local office of the National Fascist Party, the building changed hands after Fascism fell in 1945. The National Liberation Committee parties used it before the Guardia di Finanza took possession in 1957. The service still uses the building as its local headquarters. Inside, the atrium has a false ceiling covered with Nero di Belgio marble and leads towards the main staircase. The double-height Salone delle Adunate receives daylight through a skylight of concrete-framed glass blocks.

Four equal façades combine geometric proportions with opaque marble surfaces and translucent glass blocks. Pietra di Trani, Giallo Adriatico, Col di Lana and Nero di Belgio appear across the interior. The main façade has a five-span loggia, while the rear façade pairs a ground-floor glass wall with an upper loggia. Historical and artistic protection began in 1986, followed by restoration work on the marble and glass blocks, especially during the 1990s. The most striking detail remains the inner courtyard, where alternating glass-ceramic tiles and concrete-framed blocks surround the roof of the central hall.