page_title: Italian Benghazi
section_title: Urban Plan & infrastructures
hierarchical_section_title: Italian Benghazi / Urban Plan & infrastructures
caption_attribution_description: English: The lighthouse in Benghazi, Libya, built in 1922 during the Italian colonial rule.
context_page_description: Italian Benghazi was the name used during the Italian colonization of Libya for the port-city of Benghazi in Italian Cyrenaica.
context_section_description: The first Italian infrastructures in Benghazi dated at the time of the conquest, in late 1911, when was done the enlargement of the small Ottoman port that was greatly improved and when was created the communication network with the interior through the construction of two railway lines. Between 1922 and the early thirties the Italian government was organizing an Italian-populated center in the area that overlooked the harbour, encircling the Arab city, as it happened in the initial period with the Military barracks "Generale Torelli", the Military "Autogruppo" and other equipments & infrastructures of this type. 
  The heart of the Italian city was constituted by the "King's Square", former Ottoman Salt Square that was called in Italian "Piazza del Re", with the central part arranged as a garden park. On it overlooked the Palace Government, a Moorish-style building, later the seat of the "Parliament of Cyrenaica", which housed the Library and the Civil Court, and other remarkable architectural buildings.
  In the square there was the "Corso Italia", lined with palm trees, the main artery of the city leading to the new "Benghazi Train Station"; on it stood the main facade of the Governor's Palace (built in 1928-34), designed by the famous architects Alpago Novello, Cabiati and Ferrazza, overlooking "Piazza XXVIII October".  Here were lined up various buildings such as the Elementary and Middle School and the Sports Club. King's Square was connected by the axis of "Via Roma" and "Via Generale Briccola", the Town Hall Square, located within the ancient city, in which stood the Town Hall built in the Moorish style.
  The Benghazi Municipal Hall was built in 1924 and was considered one of the best colonial buildings in Africa. While the facades were designed by the architect Ivo Lebboroni, the interior frescoes are the work of Guido Cadorin, and the chandeliers are by Umberto Bellotto. The furniture inside the town hall was designed by the company Ducrot. The portico of the facade and the interiors were designed by Roman architect Marcello Piacentini: the style of his buildings is characteristic of the Neo-Moorish period of Italian colonial architecture in Libya in the 1920s. This is evident in his "Albergo Italia" as well as the "Berenice Theatre" in central Benghazi. Piacentini was later made project manager of all Italian building works in Cyrenaica.
  In 1928 the Milan Studio of architecture owned by Alpago Novello, Cabiati and Ferrazza, got the task of studying a "Plan of Benghazi", where they had already designed the Cathedral (built in 1928-34), located in the Square "Martiri Fascisti" (Fascist Martyrs).
  Furthermore in the 1930s many architects came from Italy to work and create the new "Bengasi italiana": Limongelli, Alpago Novello, Cabiati, Ferrazza, Di Fausto, Rava, Piccinato, Pellegrini, Gennari and Di Segni were the most famous
  The new Benghazi therefore was developed between the old city and the suburb of Berca through the isthmus situated between the "Punta Saline" in the West, where arose the "Industrial basin and Docking area", and the saline Ain es-Selmani eastward. The main axis on which the Plan was based were the "Via Scerif" and the street parallel, obtained by the extension of "Corso Italia". The goal was to merge in an organic unity the distinct areas of the city incorporating the existing structures: although the trend, at least for the old section, was always that of separation from the Italian-populated city, as demonstrated with the enlargement of Aghib street and the expansion planned for the axis of Via Roma and Via Generale Briccola, where in some buildings were built huge arcades (as in northern Italy).
  The largest colonial building from this Italian period is the Benghazi Cathedral in "Maydan El Catedraeya" (Cathedral Square), which was inaugurated in 1934 and has two large distinct domes.
  The Cathedral -an example of neo-classical architecture- was designed with an entrance that has a portico with six Doric columns, by the Italian famous architects Guido Ottavo and Ottavio Cabiati. 
  Cabiati also crea
caption: The actual "Italian lighthouse" in Benghazi, built in 1922 during the Italian colonial rule
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