The Colonia Marina Montecatini was designed by Eugenio Faludi with the technical office of the Società Montecatini, and built in 1939. The brief required accommodation for five hundred Balilla. A huge tower with ramps for gymnastic displays rose 55 metres above ground level. The arch at the gates was designed as a miniature version of the arch Adalberto Libera planned but never built for the abandoned Esposizione Universale di Roma (1942).
The tower of Colonia Monopoli di Stato was rebuilt to less than half its original height in the late 1940s after the original construction was destroyed by the Nazis at the end of the war. The building remained in use as a hostel until recently.