Collective memory is defined as the set of memories of an experience lived by a collective of people. After the Second World War, the world and particularly Europe had to deal with a traumatic and terrible recent past. The cities were full of buildings constructed by the regimes, and they contain very strong political elements, because architecture was one of the main tools for propaganda for political ideologies. 
Germany and Italy in particular were subjected to the toughest test as they were under Nazi and Fascist dictatorships for several years, yet the two processes of elaborating and coming to terms with the past were very different. Studies by historians and architects show that in Italy there are still many visible signs of fascism, in Germany a deeper and more radical erasure was attempted. The question of how to come to terms with collective memory and the past has always been an open ethical debate with many philosophical and historical implications. But what is the correct way to come to terms with collective memory? What are the dangers and implications of leaving things as they are or erasing them? My research focuses on the cities of Munich and Rome, the centers and birthplaces of the Nazi and Fascist parties. The architectures examined are some of the most important places of power of the dictatorships and buildings of particular ideological and strategic importance.