Sweet find, Ensign. I love the bit about the glorious fascist construction which doesn't actually mention much in the way of construction. Probably because they started off demolishing a lot of the medieval city to make way for the wide boulevards like Via dei Fori Imperiali that allowed for glorious fascist parades.
When that book was written, incidentally, the
neighborhood I lived in for 12 years had just begun to be built. It's replete with Ancient Rome-humping fascist architecture, including the glorious Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, aka, the swiss cheese.
Parts of
Titus -- best moveh Shakespeare ever -- were shot there.