The area was originally chosen in the 1930s as the site for the 1942 World's Fair which Benito Mussolini planned to open to celebrate twenty years of Fascism, the letters EUR standing for Esposizione Universale Roma ("Rome Universal Exposition"). The project was originally called E42 after the year in which the exhibition was to be held. EUR was also designed to direct the expansion of the city towards the south-west and the sea, and to be a new city centre for Rome.[1] The planned exhibition never took place due to World War II.
The complex was planned to be home to a World's fair to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the March on Rome and of the beginning of the Fascist era. The autonomous agency responsible for organization and construction of the project, E42 (Esposizione 1942), was created on 26 December 1936.[3]
On 26 April 1937 Benito Mussolini planted a cluster pine at the centre of the site of the future EUR district. Ultimately he wanted to push the Roman urban area towards the sea.[4]
The name was later changed to EUR, and the final project was presented in 1939.[6] The events of the Second World War intervened, the Expo failed to take place, and the original project was left uncompleted when the works had to stop in 1942.[6]
During World War II the uncompleted EUR development suffered severe damage.[6] However, the Roman authorities decided that EUR could be the basis of an out-of-town business district, which other capitals did not begin planning until decades later (for example, London Docklands and La Défense near Paris). During the 1950s and 1960s the unfinished Fascist-era buildings were completed and other new buildings were built in contemporary styles for use as offices and government buildings, set in large gardens and parks.
The EUR development agency, founded in 1936, became a Società per azioni on 15 March 2000[5] and is still responsible for some aspects of management and organization of the area.[7]
After a period of controversy over its architectural and urban planning principles, the project to design EUR was commissioned from the leaders of both of the rival factions in Italian architecture: Marcello Piacentini for the "reactionaries" and Giuseppe Pagano for the "progressives". Each of them brought in their own preferred architects to design individual buildings within the district. EUR offers a large-scale image of how urban Italy might have looked if the Fascist regime had not fallen; wide axially planned streets and austere buildings of either stile Littorio, inspired by ancient Roman architecture, or Rationalism, modern architecture but built using traditional limestone, tuff and marble.
The initial project was presented in 1938 under the direction of Marcello Piacentini. The design was inspired, according to the fascistideology, by Roman Imperialtown planning,[6] with modern elements which came from Italian rationalism, the result being a sort of simplified neoclassicism.
The most representative building at EUR, and the symbol of this architectural style, is the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (1938–1943), an iconic project which has since become known as the "Colosseo Quadrato" (Square Colosseum). The building was designed by Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Lapadula and Mario Romano, also inspired by metaphysical art.
In 1938 Luigi Moretti (with Fariello, Muratori and Quaroni) won the competition for the design of the Imperial Square (now Piazza Guglielmo Marconi). The large building fronting the square was never finished, but after the war the structures already constructed were used for the "Skyscraper Italy (Grattacielo Italia)" by Luigi Mattioni.
Several museums are also present. These comprise the Museum of Roman Civilization[8] (Roman Culture Museum), the Museo Nazionale dell'Alto Medioevo (National Museum of the Middle Ages) and the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini[9] (Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum). A new planetarium, connected to the Astronomy Museum, opened in 2004.[10]
The "bibliopoint" Istituto superiore "Leon Battista Alberti" is located in the EUR.[12] There are a lot of schools in EUR such as "Liceo Scientifico Statale Stanislao Cannizzaro",[13] Liceo Ginnasio Statale "Francesco Vivona",[14] another one is also ITC "Vincenzo Arangio Ruiz";[15] those three are all public schools, while there are also private institutes like: "Istituto Massimiliano Massimo"[16] and Highlands Institute[17]
Sport
There were 3 aborted attempts to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix. the first in 1985 as the Grand Prix of Europe/European Grand Prix, then as the Rome GP in 2009 and 2012.
The location was also used as the headquarters of Mayflower Industries in the 1991 movie Hudson Hawk and served as a backdrop for scenes from the 1999 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.[11]Lara Wendel's death scene in the 1982 movie Tenebrae was also shot in the location.
Augias, Corrado (2005). "XV - Il ventennale che non ci fu". I segreti di Roma - Storie, luoghi e personaggi di una capitale. Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. ISBN978-88-04-54399-2.
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