The Brunnier Art Museum will temporarily be transformed into the home of a fascist Italian poet on Sunday.

In a lecture titled “Sleeping with the Dead: II Vittoriole and Mausoleum of Post WW1 Italy,” Assistant Architecture Professor Paulette Singley will speak about Gabriele D’Annunzio’s mansion turned museum.

D’Annunzio was the leading Italian writer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An ardent fascist and a supporter of Benito Mussolini, D’Annunzio lived in the II Vittoriole delgi Italiani from 1922 to 1938.

After becoming interested in the museum while in college, Singley said for the past five years, she has been visiting and studying the museum, which was designed by Italian architect Giancarlo Maroni.

Singley said she is most fascinated by the humanization of the architecture and “the relationship between bodies and buildings.”

“This relationship is a useful model through the poet’s placement of sculpture,” she added.

Singley will also address issues of death cults, cults of virility and legends connected to Italian architecture.

The lecture is part of a larger series of lectures held in conjunction with the College of Design Faculty Exhibition, an exhibit at the Brunnier displaying work by more than 42 faculty members.

Five lectures in the program remain, including the keynote speech of international metal sculptor Albert Paley on Sept. 20.

Marilyn Vaughn, communication specialist for the university museums, said the exhibit is a tradition that occurs every year and will be on display until Oct. 25.

Vaughn added that the Faculty Exhibition is a crucial in part of the museums’ main mission to serve the students and faculty.

Paulette Singley’s lecture will take place in the Brunnier Art Museum Sunday at 2 p.m.