TOR DI VALLE RACETRACK

IPPODROMO DI TOR DI VALLE

Via dell'Ippica/Via del Mare km 9

1958/59 Julio Lafuente (1921), Gaetano Rebecchini, Aicardo Birago and Calogero Benedetti

"While the previous Capannelle racetrack went back to the Belle Epoque period, the Tor di Valle structure is the scenario of the myths and illusions of a society stunned by the euphoria of an extraordinary economic boom. It is a sophisticated product of architectural styling, defined by a figurative world that abolishes orthogonal rigidity and, with some brutalist style, research effects with the adoption of a register set based on the oblique line and geometric expressivity of the structural system due to a Piranesi's influence" (Giorgio Muratore)

ESSO BUILDING

EDIFICIO DELLA ESSO

Viale Castello della Magliana 25

1978/80 by the Spanish architect Julio Lafuente (1921) and Gaetano Rebecchini

Still bold and futuristic architectural solution consisting of three gigantic inverted triangles

Highly controversial restructuring work is underway that it seems would affect the original beauty and originality of the structure

MAGLIANA'S CASTLE

CASTELLO DELLA MAGLIANA

Via Luigi Dasti 7-14

Also known as VILLA PONTIFICIA DELLA MAGLIANA, the papal Magliana's villa, because in the past it was used as a country residence by the popes

The castle is mentioned in the eleventh century as a possession of the Monastery of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, with an adjoining chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, also medieval

Restored and adapted about 1480 for Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84)

Rebuilt 1490 by Graziadeo Pichi da Brescia for Innocent VIII Cibo (1484/92) who also added a new building that bears his name

Julius II della Rovere (1503/13) ordered Giuliano Giamberti aka Giuliano da Sangallo (1445/1516) to design a NEW SMALL PALACE with a porch and large windows, added a NEW WING maybe by Donato Bramante (1444/1514) and restored the old CHAPEL OF St. JOHN THE BAPTIST where also Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) (1483/1520) worked: he had designed the fresco in the apse "Eternal Father" executed by his pupils and now at the Louvre

Leo X Medici (1513/21) transformed the villa into a place of literary meetings, concerts and theatrical performances

Eventually the castle fell into disuse and was gradually abandoned

It was given back to the Monastery of St. Cecilia in Trastevere and it was rented

In 1957 the entire complex was bought and restored by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Today it houses offices and the direction of the nearby HOSPITAL OF St. JOHN THE BAPTIST 1960/61 designed by the architects Julio Lafuente (1921) and Gaetano Rebecchini, also owned by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta