The E.U.R. Project was initiated
in the 1920's financed and inspired by the fascist
Mussolini Government of the period the project was
never completed. the second world war and summary
execution of Mussolini put a stop to his plans. Nevertheless,
E.U.R. remains one of the most fascinating areas of
Rome and its' surreal architecture has inspired many
modern artists including Di Chirico many of whose
paintings were inspired by this surreal area of Rome.
This particular building the Palazzo della Civilita
or il Colosseo Quadrato (square collosseum) as it
is popularly known was the work of Guerrini. Commissioned
and completed in the early thirties The architectural
style is technically known as "bombastic modernism"
but in everyday language it is fascist. Indeed EU.R.
is full of fascist inspired architecture with the
Palazzo della Civilita being one of the f most famous
buildings in E.U.R and Rome. Recently il Colosseo
Quadrato was used by a major sports company for a
TV commercial which outraged Rome's cultural minister
and benefactor of the arts. Now unused the building
is a relic to a less than illustrious past and it
is almost impossible to find any books on fascist
architecture from this period.
Did
you Know? Like many of the government
buildings in E.U.R. it was never used and lies empty
to this date.
