(map) 
EUR, which stands for Esposizione Universale Roma, is a suburb to the southwest of Rome that was built for the 1942 World Fair by Italy’s fascist regime. With the war, the Fair of course never took place, but we do have an idea of what Italy’s mid-century public buildings might have looked liked had Mussolini stayed in power. While incredibly interesting architecturally and for photographers, the enormous travertino and marble buildings have a bit of a spectral feel to them, not helped by that fact that they now house museums and government offices.
The crowning piece of EUR for the Fair was to be the Palazzo della Civiltà e del Lavoro. Notice how the number of arches, six tall by nine wide, perfectly match the amount of letters in B-e-n-i-t-o M-u-s-s-o-l-i-n-i, not a coincidence.
As with all historical periods and styles however, Rome has managed to envelope, swallow, and make normal the left over bits of this one too. EUR is the perfect example of this. It is now a neighborhood of Rome like so many others, with life that goes on much as it always has anywhere else, all’Italiana. Each Sunday for example sees a flea market pop up under the arches of the Colosseo Quadrato (square colosseum), as the Romans affectionately yet half-mockingly call it.
I mean, you still need miraculous shoe-shine Super Lux wax, regardless of the history around you, right?
- These great photos were submitted by Silvia Pedicini, www.independentenglishtheatre.com, many thanks!
– Contributed by GB (see bio), Editor, Italian Notebook.
Rome never ceases to amaze. And how fitting that the glory of Mussolini’s new Rome is just another neighborhood.
EUR is a great place to live. The market happens almost every Sunday (not just once a month, as Rick Steves would have you believe), and I wouldn’t call it a flea market. There are stalls with fresh bread, cheeses, cured meats, oil, wine, and honey, for instance, from diverse regions of Italy. New designer (and ordinary) clothing, handmade items, beautiful furniture, plants, and textiles often show up along with some dollar-store type goods, bargain DVDs, and the humane society pet adoption booth.
Jill, thanks, will make the correction!
Any future comments like the second paragraph and I will unsubscribe from what, in the past, I have greatly found interesting and informative. That personal deduction was gratuitous, insensitive and plainly stupid.
Dear Anthony, you are right. Perhaps I should have specified “allegedly not a coincidence”. However, given that:
- the academic architectural community still has not come to an agreement whether the six and nine arches symbolizing the letters in Mussolini’s name were intentional or not,
- this specific building was one of Mussolini’s personal preferred projects within the larger EUR project,
- Mussolini is quite known for having had a strong “cult of personality”,
- and that there is an enormous statue of Mussolini on the foyer of this building,
I therefore feel that enough evidence supports the notion that the six and nine arches symbolize the letters of Mussolini’s first and last name. Not too sure how this is gratuitous, insensitive, and stupid.
Maybe I’m not seeing your point of view. If that’s the case, do know I’m sincerely interested. Please let me know!
Kind regards,
GB
Wow. I live nearby and never really had much vim & vigor to check out the mercato…! thanks for sharing.
lrt