 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini expressed enthusiasm for Casa Italiana as a center of Italian culture and civilization in the U.S. and donated some Renaissance furniture and portraits of himself and King Victor Emanuel.McKim, Mead & White, the firm responsible for the layout of Columbia's campus, created an impressive neo-Renaissance design for the Casa Italiana with limestone cladding all over, which set it apart from all other buildings on campus except for the imposing Low Library.Modeled on Roman "palazzi" of the Renaissance, the building opened in 1927.