Rome. Part Three. The Fascist Quarter

At the bottom of the Rome Metro, three strange stations stand out, whose names begin with the word EUR.

It may seem that these names are related to Europe. No, they are not.

These metro stations serve a special district of Rome that few have heard of. The district was built by order of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1935–1943 for the World Exhibition of the Achievements of Fascist Italy.

“The World Exhibition of Rome” in Italian is: Esposizione Universale di Roma. Hence the abbreviation: E.U.R.

Square Colosseum

So, on the outskirts of the city of Rome, there is a huge district covering 5 square kilometers with dozens of government buildings, museums, and monuments built by fascists to showcase the achievements of the fascist economy.

How’s that possible? Dunno myself. Here is what I managed to find.

Once, the Great Duce and Founder of the Empire, the leader of Italy Benito Mussolini, decided that he had already achieved the greatness of Emperor Vespasian. It was then that a brilliant idea came to his mind: since that was the case, he needed to build his own Colosseum, with blackjack and hookers with Senate and parties.

However, Mussolini could not make such decisions himself, so he turned to his then dame, Margherita Sarfatti. And she advised:

“Benya, you’re so good at combining a wife and a mistress. Try to combine ancient Roman architecture and modern technologies.”
“How can I do that, my dear Margo?”
“Well, remember how Vespasian built the Colosseum?”
“Yes, I vaguely remember something like that. Didn’t they burn half of Rome for that with Nero?”
“Exactly. So, you also need to build a Colosseum!”
“My dear Margo, what are you talking about? There is already the Colosseum, unique and irreplaceable!”
“Benya, how silly you are! Build your Colosseum to be same but different. Well, I don’t know with what. Say, the Colosseum is round. So you build a square one.”
“A square Colosseum... wait, what? But that’s... brilliant!”

Thus, the second Colosseum appeared in Rome. Square.

Written sources do not mention which psychoactive substances used Margherita Sarfatti. In those lovely times, coughs were treated with heroin, and cocaine was taken for headaches — so anything was possible. However, what’s known for sure is that this style was named novocento.

Overall, a rather strange story. One of the pillars of fascism was the cult of tradition. Fascists deemed modern art degenerate and called for a return to ancient origins. In theory, they should’ve been building in oldochento.

Anyway, the Square Colosseum was conceived as the Palace of Italian Civilization. It was opened in 1940 and was intended to be the center of an exhibition. However, suddenly the acute phase of the World War II began (guess who did that), leading to the exhibition being first postponed and then Mussolini being hanged.

In the arches of the Square Colosseum stand ancient statues, every other one suffering from Graves’s disease.

The building itself is a surprisingly cool example of architecture. It resembles some avant-garde with an Italian touch.

At the top of the Colosseum, an inscription is carved on each side: “The people of poets, artists, heroes, saints, thinkers, scholars, sailors, and immigrants.”

Currently, the fashion house Fendi is located in the Colosseum, and a wide avenue leads to it through the entire district. Hmm, this whole fascist district somehow reminds me of Washington. Oh, I mean... it’s just architecturally similar.

At the other end of the avenue stands the Palace of Congress. They didn’t manage to finish it before the war, so construction was frozen. When the war ended, the palace was completed and opened in 1954. Subsequently, competitions and even the 1960 Olympics were held there.

Nice, ha? Italy had only been free from fascism for 10 years, so they went ahead and finished up Mussolini’s palace in the fascist district, and then the whole world came there for the Olympics. And Russians cry they won’t be droped from sanctions, way to go.

Now the palace is somewhat semi-abandoned. It wasn’t possible to get inside, but through the glass was visible a ridiculous mosaic with Roman legionaries.

The fascists built quite sensibly. There is an abundance of parking spaces, and it’s easy to drive up to each building by car.

The buildings are a pure functionality. Perfectly straight walls. Simple moldings are very rarely seen to break the monotony of the appearance.

Almost all buildings are still in use. For example, in this semi-circular building is the National Social Security Fund, INPS.

In an identical building across the road is the fund for aiding doctors and dentists, Enpam. The dried-up fountain suggests that this is not the most popular place for work.

On closer look, one can see that the quality of construction does not measure up to Ancient Rome. At least under Vespasian tiles were perfectly aligned.

But overall, a good impression. If fascism had not fallen, this is how all new architecture in Italy could have looked.

Perhaps it’s not too late to bring it back? Look at the wonderful buildings that the fascists constructed!

Another beautiful building. This was supposed to be the exhibition management, but in the end, it housed the command of the German troops.

Above the portico is a quote from Mussolini’s speech:

“The Third Rome will extend to other hills along the banks of the sacred river all the way to the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea.”

Now here is the office of EUR Spa — a construction company owned by the state.

On the wall of this fascist office, beautiful bas-reliefs were found: workers and soldiers together building a new country. It strongly resembles Soviet motifs. Uh, I mean... just stylistically!

Surprisingly, the fascists even managed to build a temple in this novecento style of theirs.

But the most magnificent building was given to the Museum of Roman Civilization. A huge house with two wings and a colonnade between them.

The museum itself is not particularly interesting. It mainly houses passing exhibits and copies of famous works of art. However, if you dig deeper, in a corner between the columns, you can find a bas-relief of three fascist eagles.

But that’s all trivial. After all, you can find an eagle on any country’s coat of arms, whatever it may symbolize.

The cherry on top of the fascist district... Are you ready? Took a deep breath?

Saluting boy!

No, this is not a gesture resembling the Sieg. This is the Sieg itself.

The statue was originally called “Genius of Fascism” — Genio del Fascismo. It was made by 1942 in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Italian Fascist Party.

After the fall of fascism, it was decided to leave the statue. Times were like, you know. What if everything rolled back and whoever broke the statue would be hoist up by neck?

However, fascism still needed to be somehow covered up. That’s why, if you look very closely... very closely, you can see that on boy’s hands were placed boxing gloves.

The statue itself is now called “The Genius of Sport” — Il Genio dello Sport.

⁂

Friends! I really enjoyed the fascist district. Although the fascists messed it up a bit, look at the architecture from Mussolini’s time!

Why, is it better now? What good this Berlusconi did? Built up Rome with concrete crap. Ceilings are 2.5 meters high. Where would you live: in all those anthills or a prestige Mussoliniplace?

Mein Führer! Ich kann laufen!