Arborea is an Italian municipality of nearly 4000 inhabitants in the province of Oristano in Sardinia.
It is a planned town of recent origin: it was founded in the late twenties, on a project by Carlo Avanzini by the will of Mussolini (the primitive name was Mussolinia or Villaggio Mussolini, then changed to Arborea at the fall of Fascism) in order to celebrate the Fascist regime who had reclaimed large swampy areas of the territory and brought farmers from the poorest areas of Veneto to immigrate here.
Thus, the marshy areas rich in biodiversity were severely reduced and limited to the coastal strip, while and the territory in which the city is located was transformed into a plain crossed by canals and secondary roads with an orthogonal structure. Curiously, the streets on the outskirts of the town are marked not by names, but by numbers (e.g. 12 East, 5 West).
The whole town, still today, is affected by Fascist influences, especially from an architectural point of view. It is still possible today to visit La Casa del Fascio (on Corso Italia), a building in a "rationalist" style, with a high lictorian tower supported by a round arch. Other buildings are in Liberty style (Palazzo Comunale) or Neo-Renaissance (Dopolavoro building).