EUR is a residential and business district in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, part of the Municipio IX. 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 20 Years or Twenty Years may refer to: *'' 20 Years – A Warrior Soul'', a video album by Doro Pesch, 2006 * ''Twenty Years'' (film), a 1949 Italian comedy * "Twenty Years" (song), by Placebo, 2004 See also * * * 20 Años (disambiguation) {{ ...

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

, the letters EUR standing for Esposizione Universale Roma ("Universal Exposition Rome"). 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. The planned exhibition never took place due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Most of the area is the property of EUR S.p.A., a company jointly owned by the Ministry of Economy and the Municipality of Rome.

History

The complex was planned to be home to a

World's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, ...

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. On 26 April 1937 Benito Mussolini planted a cluster pine at the centre of the site of the future EUR district. The general commissioner of the agency,

Vittorio Cini Vittorio Cini, Count of Monselice (20 February 1885 – 18 September 1977) was an Italian industrialist and politician, Senator from 1934 to 1943 and minister of communications of the Kingdom of Italy from February to July 1943. He was amon ...

, presented a list of the most prominent Italian architects available to Benito Mussolini. The list included

Adalberto Libera Adalberto Libera (; 16 July 1903 – 17 March 1963) was one of the most representative architects of the Italian Modern movement.Adalberto Libera at DARC (Dept. of Architecture and Contemporary Art, Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage) Biog ...

Enrico Del Debbio Enrico Del Debbio (26 May 1891 – 12 July 1973) was an Italian architect and university professor. Born at Carrara, he studied in the Fine Art Academy there specializing in architecture. He moved to Rome in 1914 where he won several architec ...

Giuseppe Terragni Giuseppe Terragni (; 18 April 1904 – 19 July 1943) was an Italian architect who worked primarily under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and pioneered the Italian modern movement under the rubric of Rationalism. His most famous work is the C ...

Giovanni Michelucci Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect, urban planner and designer, was born in Pistoia, Tuscany, on 2 January 1891 and died on the night of 31 December 1990, two days before his 100th birthday, at his studio-home in Fiesole, in Florence's hills ...

, Adamius, Eugenio Montuori and

Giovanni Muzio Giovanni Muzio (12 February 1893 – 21 May 1982) was an Italian architect. Muzio was born and died in Milan. He was closely associated with the Novecento Italiano artists group. Biography The son of Virginio Muzio, an accomplished archit ...

. Among the large list,

Marcello Piacentini Marcello Piacentini (8 December 1881 – 19 May 1960) was an Italian urban theorist and one of the main proponents of Italian Fascist architecture. Biography Born in Rome, he was the son of architect Pio Piacentini. When he was only 26, he was ...

(head of the project), Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig,

Luigi Piccinato Luigi Piccinato (30 October 1899 – 29 July 1983) was an Italian architect and town planner. Works * ''Urbanistica medioevale'', Florence, 1943 * Napoli Centrale railway station, Naples, 1954 * Stadio Adriatico, Pescara, 1955 * A-Block Apartment ...

, Luigi Vietti and Ettore Rossi were chosen. The first project, on an area of , was presented in 1938. The name was later changed to EUR, and the final project was presented in 1939. 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. During

the uncompleted EUR development suffered severe damage. However, the Roman authorities decided that EUR could be the basis of an out-of-town

business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, which other capitals did not begin planning until decades later (for example,

London Docklands London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of London Borough of Southwark, Southwark, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets, London Borough of ...

and

La Défense La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbevoie, ...

near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

). Therefore, 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. EUR was almost fully completed for the 1960 Olympics, held in

. At that time, most of the important infrastructures, such as the Palazzo dello Sport (designed by

Nervi Nervi is a former fishing village 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Portofino on the Riviera di Levante, now a seaside resort in Liguria, in northwest Italy. Once an independent ''comune'', it is now a ''quartiere'' of Genoa. Nervi is 4 miles ( ...

and Piacentini) and the Velodromo were completed. The EUR development agency, founded in 1936, became a

Società per azioni ''Società'' (Italian: ''Society'') was an Italian communist cultural magazine published in Italy between 1945 and 1961. History and profile ''Società'' was founded as a quarterly magazine in Florence in 1945. The founders were Ranuccio Bianchi ...

on 15 March 2000 and is still responsible for some aspects of management and organization of the area. 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:

for the "reactionaries" and

Giuseppe Pagano Giuseppe Pagano (20 August 1896 – 22 April 1945) was an Italian architect, notable for his involvement in the movement of rationalist architecture in Italy up to the end of the Second World War. He designed exhibitions, furniture and interiors ...

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 Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered on ...

, or

Rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

, modern architecture but built using traditional

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

Architecture

The initial project was presented in 1938 under the direction of Marcello Piacentini. The design was inspired, according to the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

, by

Roman Imperial The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

town planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

, with modern elements which came from Italian

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

, the result being a sort of simplified

neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

. The project develops over

orthogonal In mathematics, orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. By extension, orthogonality is also used to refer to the separation of specific features of a system. The term also has specialized meanings in ...

axes and large and stately buildings, built mainly of

and

, traditional materials associated with Roman Empire architecture. The most representative building at EUR, and the symbol of this architectural style, is the ''

Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, also known as the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro, or in everyday speech as the ("Square Colosseum"), is a building in the EUR district in Rome. It was designed in 1938 by three Italian architects: Giovanni ...

'' (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 Metaphysical painting ( it, pittura metafisica) or metaphysical art was a style of painting developed by the Italian artists Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà. The movement began in 1910 with de Chirico, whose dreamlike works with sharp contra ...

. In 1938

Luigi Moretti Luigi Walter Moretti (2 January 1907 – 14 July 1973) was an Italian architect. Active especially in Italy since the thirties, he designed buildings such as the Watergate Complex in Washington DC, The Academy of Fencing, and ''Il Girasole'' (" ...

(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. Other notable buildings are: * '' Palazzo dei Ricevimenti e dei Congressi'' * '' Archivio Centrale dello Stato'' * ''Basilica parrocchiale dei Santi Pietro e Paolo'' * Palazzo degli Uffici, with the statue once titled " Genius of Fascism" * INA palace and INPS palace Several museums are also present. These comprise the Museum of Roman Civilization (Roman Culture Museum), the ''Museo Nazionale dell'Alto Medioevo'' (National Museum of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

) and the ''Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini'' (Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum). A new

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetarium ...

, connected to the ''Astronomy Museum'', opened in 2004.

Economy

EUR is the headquarters of many companies and public bodies, such as

Confindustria The General Confederation of Italian Industry ( it, Confederazione generale dell'industria italiana), commonly known as Confindustria, is the Italy, Italian employers' federation and national chamber of commerce, founded in 1910. It groups togeth ...

, the Ministry of Health, the

Ministry of communications A Communications Ministry or Department of Communications is a ministry or other government agency charged with communication. Communications responsibilities includes regulating telecommunications, postal services, broadcasting and print media. T ...

, the Archivio Centrale dello Stato, the Ministry of the Environment, the

SIAE SIAE ( en, Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, Italian: Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori) is the Italian copyright collecting agency. Founded in 1882 in the Kingdom of Italy, it is the monopolist intermediary between the autho ...

, the ICE Institute, Eni company,

UniCredit UniCredit S.p.A. is an international banking group headquartered in Milan. It is Italy's only systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world's 34th largest by assets. It was for ...

, Poste italiane, INAIL, INPS, and many other multinational companies. It also hosted the

NATO Defense College NATO Defense College (NDC) is the international military college for North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. It is located in Rome, Italy. History The idea of a NATO Defense College originated with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the f ...

from 1966 until 1999.

Education

The "bibliopoint" ''Istituto superiore "Leon Battista Alberti"'' is located in the EUR. There are a lot of schools in EUR such as "Liceo Scientifico Statale Stanislao Cannizzaro", Liceo Ginnasio Statale "Francesco Vivona", another one is also ITC "Vincenzo Arangio Ruiz"; those three are all public schools, while there are also private institutes like: "Istituto Massimiliano Massimo" and Highlands Institute

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. *In 2018, motor racing championship

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...

held a round on the

Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR The Circuito cittadino dell'EUR is a street circuit located in the EUR neighborhood in Rome, Italy. It is used for the Rome ePrix of the single-seater, electrically powered Formula E championship. It was first used on 14 April 2018 for the 201 ...

street track, a course which encompasses the ward. The race was won by Briton

Sam Bird Sam Jamie Bird (born 9 January 1987) is a British professional racing driver who currently drives for Jaguar TCS Racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship. Career Formula BMW Bird made his name in single seater racing in the Formula B ...

. The edition of 2022 was won by

Mitch Evans Mitchell William Evans (born 24 June 1994) is a New Zealand professional racing driver. He currently drives for the Jaguar TCS Racing team in Formula E. In 2012, he won the GP3 Series and he raced in the GP2 Series for four years, achieving ...

for

Jaguar Cars Jaguar (, ) is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars ...

In popular culture

The Fascist architecture of EUR was prominently featured in

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

's 1962 film ''

L'Eclisse ''L'Eclisse'' ( en, "The Eclipse") is a 1962 Italian romance film written and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Alain Delon and Monica Vitti. Filmed on location in Rome and Verona, the story follows a young woman (Vitti) who pursues ...

'' and

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...

's 1970 film ''

The Conformist ''The Conformist'' (''Il conformista'') is a novel by Alberto Moravia published in 1951, which details the life and desire for normality of a government official during Italy's fascist period. It is also known for the 1970 film adaptation by B ...

''. Additionally, multiple buildings were shown in

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

's films ''

8½ ' (Italian title: , ) is a 1963 surrealist comedy-drama film directed and co-written (with Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano and Brunello Rondi) by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. The metafictional narrative centers on Guido Anselmi, played by M ...

'' and ''

Boccaccio '70 ''Boccaccio '70'' is a 1962 comedy anthology film directed by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli and Luchino Visconti from an idea by Cesare Zavattini. It consists of four episodes, each by one of the directors, all about a di ...

''. The location was also used as the headquarters of Mayflower Industries in the 1991 movie ''

Hudson Hawk ''Hudson Hawk'' is a 1991 American action comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann. Bruce Willis stars in the title role and also co-wrote both the story and the theme song. Danny Aiello, Andie MacDowell, James Coburn, David Caruso, Lorraine To ...

'' and served as a backdrop for scenes from the 1999 film adaptation of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''Titus Andronicus''.

Lara Wendel Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los In ...

's death scene in the 1982 movie ''

Tenebrae Tenebrae (—Latin for "darkness") is a religious service of Western Christianity held during the three days preceding Easter Day, and characterized by gradual extinguishing of candles, and by a "strepitus" or "loud noise" taking place in total ...

'' was also shot in the location. The burial of Marco Sciarra in 007's ''

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

'' was filmed at Museum of Roman Civilization.

Gallery

File:Eur aereo edit.JPG, Aerial view File:Potere.jpg, Central Archives of the State File:EUR - Roma - Palazzo dell'INA e dell'NPS.JPG, Palazzo INA File:Museo nazionale delle arti e tradizioni popolari in 2018.04.jpg, National Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions File:Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana a EUR Roma.jpg,

File:Palazzo dei Congressi a EUR Roma.jpg, Palazzo dei Ricevimenti e Congressi File:Museo della Civiltà Romana a EUR Roma.jpg, Museum of Roman Civilization File:Basilica dei Santi Pietro e Paolo in 2018.04.jpg, St. Peter and St. Paul Basilica

Post-fascist architecture

File:Roma EUR sede centrale INPS.jpg, Palazzo INPS, 1967 File:20070611 Rome 02.jpg, Palazzo dello Sport, 1960 File:2012-07-19 Roma EUR Fungo (torre serbatoio).jpg, ''Il Fungo'' (The Mushroom), 1960 File:Roma Convention Center 2018.jpg, New Convention Center designed by

Massimiliano Fuksas Massimiliano Fuksas (born January 9, 1944) is an Italian architect. He is the head of ''Studio Fuksas'' in partnership with his wife, Doriana Mandrelli Fuksas, with offices in Rome, Paris and Shenzhen. Biography Fuksas was born in Rome in 194 ...

, 2016

EUR during the 1960s

Photos taken by Italian photographer

Paolo Monti Paolo Monti (11 August 1908 – 29 November 1982) was an Italian photographer, known for his architectural photography. In his early period, Monti experimented with abstractionism as well as with effects such as blurring and diffraction. In 19 ...

, showing the district during the 1960s: File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Roma, 1967) - BEIC 6349148.jpg File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Roma, 1967) - BEIC 6349155.jpg File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Roma, 1967) - BEIC 6364270.jpg File:Paolo Monti - Roma Eur 1967 stazione Fermi.jpg File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Roma, 1967) - BEIC 6349154.jpg

References and notes

Bibliography

* Christine Beese: ''Marcello Piacentini. Moderner Städtebau in Italien.'' Berlin 2016, pp. 300–329. * * {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2019 Modernist architecture in Italy Central business districts Italian fascist architecture Rome Q. XXXII Europa