You can't learn from history if you erase it. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with the point.

What happens to fascist architecture after fascism? Asked a recent BBC culture headline. Good question.

Because buildings are made by peoples and cultures, they're never just functional. They tell stories.

For example, a tax office in Balzano, Italy, features a mural of Menido Mussolini on horseback giving his infamous

straight-arm salute. It's a remarkable piece of fascist propaganda architecture, writes the BBC's

Alex Sicalis, all-inspiring, odious, and perplexing all at once. Well, for decades, the building

has sparked conflict until yearly neo-fascist rallies and bombing attempts forced leaders to seek a compromise in

2017. So the tax office was left standing. Its mural still visible. But over the top, the words of

Hannah Arendt were written in LED lights. Nobody has the right to obey. In other words, the duty of

conscience triumphs over the demands of totalitarian regimes.

Incredibly, the compromise seems to have eased the tension.

We need not choose between romanticizing or demolishing history.

Sometimes it's enough to let truth be put in context and then learn from it.

I'm John Stone Street.