Page 120 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

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Figure 3: Photomontage of the panorama of the southern edge of the old town of Koper/Capodistria with the planned
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 11 (2023), številka 2 / volume 11 (2023), number 2
monumental school dedicated to Anna Depangher Sauro, 1939–1940 (source: Personal Archive of Mario Fonda)
Belveder fit into the political, ideological and The new school was designed in 1938, at
social dynamics? The story of this first post- the height of fascism, with an exceptional rep-
war school in the centre of Koper has a lengthy resentational significance. It served as the dom- ta
prelude connected with a modern, unfinished inant feature of the monumental scenery on the
school building from the fascist era, and a fol- promenade leading to the equally monumen-
low-up that mirrors the town’s demographic and tal memorial to Nazario Sauro from 1935. In or-
urban development after Zone B was annexed to der for construction to begin, much of the anon- di
Yugoslavia. ymous fabric of the town’s Brazzol district was
demolished (Cherini 1990, 265–266), follow-
The Fascist Primary School ing the example of Mussolini paving the way
Scuola Anna Depangher Sauro for fascist modernity in Rome. The plan for the
In the interwar period, the fascist authorities new school complex consisted of a central dom-
built several rural schools in the Istrian country- inant part and two wings (one for girls and one
side. These were typical one-room schoolhous- for boys). Due to disputes over symbolic aesthet- here
es aimed at providing the most basic education ics, in which the Minister of National Educa-
13
for the peasant population. The aesthetics of tion Giuseppe Bottai intervened, and the out-
these buildings followed the official style of the break of war, construction came to a standstill
time, the so-called Stile Littorio. By reinterpret- and the building, with its extraordinary symbol-
ing elements from Roman antiquity, it served as ic charge, remained unfinished.
a tool for legitimising the alleged continuity of After the end of World War II, especially af-
the Roman – and consequently presumably Ital- ter the Free Territory of Trieste was established,
ian – civilisational and territorial domination. the school building became relevant again. The
A monumental but unfinished primary school new authorities – the Military Administration
complex was built in the same spirit and style – of the Yugoslav Army – intended to complete
the school, but again the plan was not realised
but much more ambitiously – on the waterfront
of Koper/Capodistria (today Pristaniška uli- as they decided to build a new school at a new lo- studiauniversitatis
cation – on the site of the demolished prison at
ca) in 1940. It was dedicated to Anna Depangh-
er Sauro, the mother of the local irredentist hero 13 SABAP FVG, fondo Istra Quarnero Dalmazia, b. 4, fasc.
172, Nuova Scuola Capodistria, prot. n. 141, 20 February
Nazario Sauro. 1940.