The Palazzo delle Poste or Palazzo Postale is a monumental government building, executed in the stripped classicism architectural style of the 1920s, originally intended as the mail and telegraph center, located on Via Roma #320, in the quarter of Castellamare in Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. The modern building is bordered on the north by the church of the Sant'Ignazio all'Olivella and the adjacent Regional Archeologic Museum, while Piazza San Domenico is a few blocks to the south.
The building was designed by the rationalist, and later fascist, government architect Angiolo Mazzoni in the early 1920s. Construction was begun on the structure in 1929 and the building was inaugurated in 1934 with the Italian government's communications minister Umberto Puppini in attendance. [1] The Palermo flood occurred from February 21–23, 1931 while the building was being constructed and during that time a large crane which was being used to erect the post office collapsed onto a neighboring building.
The building was damaged by fire in 1988, and reopened for tours in 2017 after restoration. [2] [3]
The building is featured in episode #4, "From Palermo to Mt. Etna" (which premiered on August 26. 2020), of Great Continental Railway Journeys on the BBC and presented by Michael Portillo.
The style of the building is typical of the fascist period and falls under the rubric of Italian Rationalism. It covers an area of 5100 m², which is symmetrically structured around two side courtyards. The structure is rendered in reinforced concrete and clad in gray marble from Mount Billiemi. [4] The front colonnade is formed by 10 columns each 30 meters high. Also of note is the large elliptical staircase with a diameter greater than 9 meters.
The interiors are done in the style of Futurism, one of the few examples an interior created as such from the time. All the details were attended to by Mazzoni, such as; the copper-clad doors, the specially designed window handles, the lighting, and the choice of marble and stone, all from Italy except the black stone of the staircase, as he desired.
Most striking perhaps is the conference room, with works by the Futurist painter Benedetta Cappa, [5] Called Sintesi delle Comunicazioni (Synthesis of Communication) the five murals which measure 6½ ft (2 m) by 10 ft (3.05 m), were painted by Cappa in 1933 and 1934 in tempera and encaustic (a wax process) on canvas and depict land, sea, air, and telegraphic and radio communications. [6] As well as trying to convey the complexity of the Futurist vision, which sought to break free of the burden of history and propel Italy into the future, at the same time they were designed to invoke resonances with the frescoes of ancient Pompeii. In 2014 the murals were loaned for exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. [6] There are also two paintings by Tato and another by Piero Bevilacqua, "Radio and television". Finally there is a bronze sculpture by Corrado Vigni, "Diana the Huntress".
The waiting room which precedes the conference room is impressive as well with an intense blue tiling.
Originally on the right side of the building there was a large Victorian beam, as tall as the entire building and also in marble, which was removed at the fall of the fascist regime. [7]
Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye de Créteil between 1907 and 1908. Marinetti is best known as the author of the first Futurist Manifesto, which was written and published in 1909, and as a co-author of the Fascist Manifesto, in 1919.
Palermo is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old. Palermo is in the northwest of the island of Sicily, by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
EUR is a residential and business district in Rome, Italy, part of the Municipio IX.
The year 1934 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
Angiolo Mazzoni was a state architect and engineer of the Italian Fascist government of the 1920s and 1930s.
Arturo Martini (1889–1947) was a leading Italian sculptor between World War I and II. He moved between a very vigorous classicism and modernism. He was associated with public sculpture in fascist Italy, but later renounced his medium altogether.
Fascist architecture encompasses various stylistic trends in architecture developed by architects of fascist states, primarily in the early 20th century. Fascist architectural styles gained popularity in the late 1920s with the rise of modernism along with the ultranationalism associated with fascist governments in western Europe. Fascist styles often resemble that of ancient Rome, but can extend to modern aesthetics as well. Fascist-era buildings are frequently constructed with particular concern given to symmetry and simplicity.
Roma Termini is the main railway station of Rome, Italy. It is named after the district of the same name, which in turn took its name from ancient Baths of Diocletian, which lies across the street from the main entrance. It is Italy's busiest railway station and the fifth-busiest in Europe, with a traffic volume of approximately 150 million passengers per year, and with 850 trains in transit per day.
The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, also known as the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro, or in everyday speech as the Colosseo Quadrato, is a building in the EUR district in Rome. It was designed in 1938 by three Italian architects: Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto La Padula, and Mario Romano. The building is an example of Italian Rationalism and fascist architecture with neoclassical design, representing romanità, a philosophy which encompasses the past, present, and future all in one. The enormity of the structure is meant to reflect the fascist regime's new course in Italian history. The design of the building draws inspiration from the Colosseum with rows of arches. According to legend, the structure's six vertical and nine horizontal arches are correlated to the number of letters in the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's name.
Gerardo Dottori was an Italian Futurist painter. He signed the Futurist Manifesto of Aeropainting in 1929. He was associated with the city of Perugia most of his life, living in Milan for six months as a student and in Rome from 1926-39. Dottori's' principal output was the representation of landscapes and visions of Umbria, mostly viewed from a great height. Among the most famous of these are Umbrian Spring and Fire in the City, both from the early 1920s; this last one is now housed in the Museo civico di Palazzo della Penna in Perugia, with many of Dottori's other works. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics and the 1936 Summer Olympics.
The Palazzo delle Esposizioni is a neoclassical exhibition hall, cultural center and museum on Via Nazionale in Rome, Italy.
Enrico Prampolini was an Italian Futurist painter, sculptor and scenographer. He assisted in the design of the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution and was active in Aeropainting.
Roberto Narducci was an Italian architect and engineer of the Modernist and Novocento movements.
Palazzo Mezzanotte, also known as Palazzo delle Borse is a 20th-century building of Milan, Italy, and the seat of the Italian stock exchange. It is located in Piazza Affari, the city square after which the Italian stock exchange itself is nicknamed. The name "Palazzo Mezzanotte" is a reference to Paolo Mezzanotte, the architect who designed the building.
The Heating plant and main controls cabin is a technical facilities building in Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station designed by architect Angiolo Mazzoni in 1929. The complex is recognized as one of the masterpieces of Futurist architecture.
The Palazzo della Casa del Mutilato is a building, located on via Guantai Nuovi and via Diaz, in piazza Matteotti in Naples, Italy. It is an example of the Fascist architecture constructed during the rule of Benito Mussolini, just like the large convex-facade of the central post office building across the street.
The Palazzo del Viminale is a historic palace in Rome (Italy), seat of the Prime Minister and of the Ministry of Interior since 1925; in 1961 the Prime Minister was transferred to Palazzo Chigi.
Benedetta Cappa was an Italian futurist artist who has had retrospectives at the Walker Art Center and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Her work fits within the second phase of Italian Futurism.
The Polizia Postale e delle Comunicazioni is one of the units of the Polizia di Stato, the State Police of Italy. Its functions include the investigation of cybercrime.
The Palazzo Alliata di Villafranca is former aristocratic mansion, now converted into a museum, located just off Via Vittorio Emanuele facing the Piazza Bologni which opens two blocks west of the Quattro Canti intersection, in the ancient quarter of the Albergaria of the city of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy.