House of Italian Youth of the Littorio (GIL)

The Casa della Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL) is located in the Trastevere district.
It dates back to 1933, when it was commissioned by the Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) under the direction of Renato Ricci and built by architect Luigi Moretti as the Casa dei Balilla. The project by the young 26-year-old architect immediately established itself as a reference model for this type of construction and was exhibited in the ‘Italy that innovates’ section of the Italian architecture exhibition at the 1933 V Triennale. The building was inaugurated on 5 November 1937 and officially became the ‘House of the GIL’.

The original function of the building was to house various types of services, from representative offices to after-work clubs, to sports, recreational and welfare activities.

Gioventù Italiana del Littorio, a unitary organisation of the youth forces of the fascist regime (motto: ‘believe, obey, fight’), was founded in 1937 from the merger of the fascist organisations called Opera nazionale balilla and Fasci giovanili di combattimento. The GIL, under the direct control of the secretary of the Fascist Party, organised young people of both sexes, aged 6 to 21, with the aim of political training and sports and military preparation (physical education in schools; pre-military education), and also carried out welfare and recreational activities. It was dissolved in 1943.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Ferdinand Bovenschen