Italian colonists in the Dodecanese point for the spread of Italian culture in Greece and the Levant. The Fascist program did have some positive effects in its attempts to modernize the islands, resulting in the eradication of malaria, the construction of hospitals, aqueducts, a power plant to provide Rhodes' capital with electric lighting and the establishment of the Dodecanese Cadastre. The main castle of the Knights of St. John was also rebuilt. The concrete-dominated architectural style blended in with the islands' picturesque scenery (and also reminded the inhabitants of Italian rule), but has consequently been largely demolished or remodeled, apart from the famous example of
Italian Islands of the Aegean Social Republic, but were "de facto" subject to the German military command. After the end of World War II, the islands came under provisional British administration. In the Treaty of Peace in 1947, the islands were ceded to Greece. Italian Islands of the Aegean The Italian Islands of the Aegean (; ) were a group of twelve major islands (the Dodecanese) in the southeastern Aegean Sea, which — together with the surrounding islets — were ruled by the Kingdom of Italy from 1912 to 1943 and the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945. The Dodecanese, except Kastellorizo, were occupied