The rather brutalist but functional frontage of Florence Santa Maria

Novella station. It was rebuilt in 1934 being moved further away from the church from which it gets its name. It is built to the Italian Modernism model being designed by a number of architects known as the Gruppo Toscano (Tuscan Group). Unfortunately, I cannot help feeling a little uncomfortable praising the station given that it was conceived and built under the orders of the facist dictator Mussolini. This was a dark time in Italy's past and one I don't like celebrating even if it is through its architecture.