Eur Notes Fascist&Photo

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A XXth century New Rome

In 1936 the Italian government made a successful application for hosting in Rome the next World Exhibition which was due in 1941. TheExhibition was soon postponed to 1942 to celebrate the XXth anniversary of the Fascist regime.

The area chosen for the exhibition was some three miles south of the walls, near the river and the road to Ostia. The architect MarcelloPiacentini was asked to coordinate the development of a plan having the objective to create a new quarter of Rome and not only to build

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the temporary pavilions required by the Exhibition.Marcello Piacentini was renowned for the neat design of the new Railway Station of Florence, but the government wanted to emphasize themonumental aspects of the new quarter and Piacentini and the other architects who cooperated with him had to meet this expectation.

The new quarter was soon known as E.U.R., the acronym of Esposizione Universale Roma.

Palazzo della Civilt del Lavoro (1938-43)

The Fascist regime emphasized the links between the expansion of the Roman Empire and its own aggressive policies and it pouredmoney into redesigning in a spectacular way many areas of the city, mainly to the detriment of medieval or Baroque monuments; for surethe regime had something in common with the ancient Romans: a passion for erecting large buildings.Nevertheless the inscription on Palazzo della Civilt Italiana (renamed della Civilt del Lavoro) does not include costruttori(builders) in thelist of the attibutes of the Italians.VN POPOLO DI POETI DI ARTISTI DI EROIDI SANTI DI PENSATORI (philosophers) DI SCIENZIATIDI NAVIGATORI DI TRASMIGRATORI (the meaning of this word today is rather obscure, but in the 1930s it was most likely a reference tothe first intercontinental flights).The inscription as well as the building were the subject of many jokes: less commendable attributes were added to the list and the buildingwas soon called ColosseoQuadrato(square) and even worse Palazzo del Groviera, after the Swiss cheese gruyre.

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While the arches of the building are a reminder of the Colosseo arches, the four statues at its corners have many points in common withthose in Piazza del Quirinale.

Palazzo degli Uffici dell'Ente Autonomo EUR (1937-39)

The first building to be completed was aimed at hosting the offices for the Exhibition, and it included a large hall announced from theoutside by a high portico (on its top an inscription celebrates the expansion of Rome towards the sea).

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Palazzo degli Uffici dell'Ente Autonomo EUR (1937-39): mosaics and reliefs

While the building had a very neat and modern design the mosaics and the reliefs which embellished it were evocative of Ancient Rome.The black and white mosaics replicated a pattern typical of Caracalla's Bathsand the reliefs portrayed ancient monuments (in the imageabove: theArch of Titus, Trajan's Columnand the Pantheon). Mussolini himself was portrayed as if he were a direct descendant of theRoman consuls and emperors. He had a peculiar way of speaking with his fists pointed against his hips as shown by the position of his leftarm; the right arm is raised in the so called saluto fascistawhich had replaced the traditional shaking of hands. What at the time must have

looked very impressive, today appears a flattering description of Mussolini's ability to ride a horse without holding the reins.

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Porch (1939-42) leading to Piazza Marconi and Genio dello Sport by Italo Griselli near Palazzo degli Uffici

Michelangelo Antonioni is an Italian filmmaker who became famous in the early 1960s by a series of movies which depicted the difficulty ofliving, not because of material conditions or negative events, but because of existential anxieties. He shot several scenes of The Eclipse(1962) among the EUR buildings. The empty porches, the isolated statues, the unusually shaped buildings provided him with a nothumanly scaled background which highlighted the feeling his characters had of living in an alien world.

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Obelisk (1939-59) dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi

The gigantic stela dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi is a clear reference to the obelisks of Rome, but it does not have the grace of theoriginals.The Exhibition never took place because of WWII and the few buildings which had been completed were occupied by families who had losttheir homes because of war events. In 1951, when the post war emergency was gradually receding, the Italian government decided tocomplete the quarter by relocating public offices and by inviting companies to build their headquarters in the new quarter. The quarter wasrenamed Quartiere Europaretaining to some extent its original name and the streets and buildings were in some cases renamed too inorder to cancel references to the past regime. The assignment to Rome of the 1960 Olympic Games gave a new impulse to the completionof the monumental parts of EUR including the stela to Marconi.

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Palazzo delle Scienze (1939-43)

The EUR hosts several museums which are scarcely visited by tourists. One of them (Museo Pigorini) includes most of the collection ofAfrican, Chinese and American handicrafts gathered in Collegio Romanoby the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher in the XVIIth century. Anotherinteresting museum (Museo della Civilt Romana) includes a reconstruction (scale 1:250) of the City of Rome in the IVth century.

Also the materials used in the EUR buildings remind visitors of Ancient Rome: for the columns of the building shown in the picture thearchitects used a green stone resembling cipollino, a marble very much in fashion in the IInd century (see the cipollino columnsof theTemple of Annia Faustina - S. Lorenzo in Miranda).

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Palazzo dei Congressi (1938-54)

The low dome of Palazzo dei Congressi is evocative of the Pantheonand the reference is more evident when the building is seen from theother side (in the image used as a background for this page). The photo shown above was taken on a summer Sunday when this part of

EUR is almost deserted (if you wish to see the monuments of Rome on a summer Sunday morning click here).

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Palazzo dell'INPS (1940-54)

This palace is decorated with vaguely Renaissance reliefs portraying allegories of the Italian Maritime Republics (the winged lion of Venice

and St. George, protector of a Genoese maritime company). Its design can be associated to that of the Trajan's Markets.

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SS. Pietro e Paolo (1938-55)

The church of EUR clearly descends from Michelangelo's plan for St. Peter'swhich was based on a Greek cross shape.

Special thanks to http://www.romeartlover.it

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