Cookiecutter classicism.
Back in the 1940s or so,
Musselini invited
Hitler over to visit, and he wanted to impress him with beautiful
Classical scenery. so he had an entire
fake Roman landscape built along the
train route so that Hitler could see it from the windows as he rode into the
city. the buildings were flimsy, little more than
false fronts of arches and columns. later on, the country realized the stupidity of this venture and was rather regretting it, but it was decided that the site was far enough away from the main city of
Rome that it wouldnt be too embarrassing, and so the
gingerbread columns and arches were left.
dont
quote me on this, i may be partially or even entirely wrong. we learned about it in
art history class, and i tend to dose off at regular intervals. but this story caught my
mind's eye; i think it would make a good
allusion in a
literary work, if i ever get around to that.