Tuesday, November 12, 2013

DON ORIONE INSTITUTE

CENTRO DON ORIONE
Religious institute with an orphanage, a center for rehabilitation and a vocational training center
It incorporated, distorting the original relationship with the environment of the summit of Monte Mario, the COLONIA ELIOTERAPICA (heliotherapy camp) designed by Enrico Del Debbio (1891/1973) in 1934 and built the following year, in just 75 days
A single floor about 400 m long (1,300 feet) for dormitories with room for up to 800 boys and girls
"The building features a floor plan that fits discreetly into the natural environment, reflecting the interest shown by Del Debbio for the architecture of northern Europe. These Baltic suggestions are also attested by the extreme simplification of the language, which is reduced to a minimum, far from any pomposity" (Giorgio Muratore)
"In this episode of 'minor' architecture, less influenced by celebratory needs, Del Debbio moves on a different line from that of the Foro Italico. He used, certainly with interesting results, a very concise formal system together with a simplified architectural language, almost 'minimal'" (Piero Ostilio Rossi)
"Statue of the Madonna Salus Populi Romani" by Arrigo Minerbi (1881/1960) inaugurated April 5, 1953 in gilded copper, 11 m (36 feet) high. It is visible from the Olympic Stadium. It was built as a thanksgiving to Our Lady for the end of World War II
Arrigo Minerbi was Jewish and he had taken refuge in the Opera Don Orione Home in Rome to escape racial persecution. He had carved the relief of the left door of the Cathedral of Milan
The material for the statue came from the copper pots all collected by orphaned and maimed children of Don Orione or offered by the faithful
It was demolished by a tornado in October 2009 and restored in 2010

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