VIADUCT OF CORSO FRANCIA

VIADOTTO DI CORSO FRANCIA
Corso Francia

1958/60 Vittorio Cafiero (1901/81), Adalberto Libera (1903/63), Amedeo Luccichenti (1907/63), Vincenzo Monaco (1911/69) and Luigi Moretti (1907/73)

Structures by Pier Luigi Nervi (1891/1979) and his son Antonio Nervi

“The international area in which attention for Nervi’s work grew faster was the United States of America. If the image of Nervi emerging from American journalism was that of a great architect-builder heir to a centuries-old tradition, whose method of work seemed to owe much to intuition and to artisan-like skills, in those same years, in Italy, two major events - the Olympics in Rome in 1960 and the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of national unity in Turin in 1961 - led to the contrary the name of Nervi in the foreground as a synonym for a constructive and technological modernization worth of representing the rapid transformation of the country” (Filippo De Pieri - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

FLYOVER OF CORSO FRANCIA
1958/59 by Luigi Moretti

DECIMA DISTRICT

QUARTIERE DECIMA

Via di Decima/Via Cristoforo Colombo/G.R.A./Via del Mare

1960/66 Luigi Moretti (1907/73) coordinated the project for the Istituto Nazionale per le Case degli Impiegati dello Stato (INICIS) (National Institute for the Houses of State Employees) 

It was built to meet the growing demand for housing on the part of civil servants who gravitated around the EUR district, still expanding at the time

Buildings by Vittorio Cafiero (1901/81), Ignazio Guidi (1904/78), Adalberto Libera (1903/63) and Luigi Moretti

Other architects who worked on the project: Agrelli, Di Tullio, La Valle, Quadarella, Reggiani, Rinaldi, Rulli, Sebasti, Valle e Veroi

808 apartments for a population of about 7,500 people

Reorganization of the central square in 1999 by Aldo Aymonino (1953)

“So it was partly put together again the team a few years before had given a good performance in the realization of the Olympic Village; and the new district evokes some of the main characters of the Olympic Village: the prevalence of row houses with 4-5 floors on stilts, greenery as connective tissue, unification of coating materials (brick facing) and architectural solutions. Only the plan of the buildings is driven by a separate will, to determine complex visual perspectives, enveloping spaces and constantly changing. Hence the use of sinuous lines and open polygonal schemes, typical of those years in the formal research of Luigi Moretti” (Saverio- www.urbanistica.unipr.it)

PROPYLEA OF EUR DISTRICT

PROPILEI DELL'EUR

Piazzale dell'Agricoltura/Piazzale dell'Industria

1963/65 Luigi Moretti (1907/73), Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo (1890/1966), Giovanni Quadarella (1927) e Morpurgo's nephew and pupil Giorgio Santoro

Five floors above ground level and three below

“The design, due to the language of the International Style, is characterized by the gradual lightening of the architectural score from top to bottom, which, according to a Michelangelesque scheme, reverses the traditional compositional hierarchy” (Giorgio Muratore)

“Le Corbusier proposes the horizontal blinds as a rhythmic element that gives the façade a homogeneous configuration by removing the window from the vocabulary of the city. Quite often then the blinds will be free from their original appearance as a box of heavy elements to become a vertical blade with the use of metal. As such it makes an appearance in the late sixties of the last century, in a masterpiece among the least celebrated of modern Italian architecture: the Propylaea of EUR, built by Luigi Moretti. 'The thought of doing a big building - wrote to his friend, the architect Agnoldomenico Pica - that would be violent and present at certain times and even unsubstantial in others, in an endless repetition as a Chinese manuscript, as Greek columns, or as the stochastic arrangement of a façade such as Porta Pia, etc. etc. has led me to concoct that endless rows of vertical elements that at some point you either get tired of seeing, or you have sufficiently understood not to waste more time looking at them” (Paolo Portoghesi)

PIETRO NENNI BRIDGE

PONTE PIETRO NENNI

Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia/Lungotevere Michelangelo

1974 Silvano Zorzi (1921/94) who executed a 1965 project by Luigi Moretti (1907/73)

It was opened only in 1980 when the Line A of the Rome Metro was completed

It is 121,60 m (399 feet) long

It is also known as PONTE DELLA METROPOLITANA (Metro Bridge)

“In the sixties Silvano Zorzi is among the first in Italy to deal with the design of bridges and viaducts in the system of the overhang structures (horizontal beams firmly connected to one end only). In industrial manufacturing, in marine and ground installations he researches typological solutions through the design of industrially produced building components. His whole production moves from the knowledge that the engineering artifacts are permanent architectures of the landscape and then he looks for the structural lightness, constructive and figurative” (G.L. Ciagà - Gli archivi di architettura in Lombardia. Censimento delle fonti)

VILLA BORGHESE CAR PARK

PARCHEGGIO DI VILLA BORGHESE

Viale del Muro Torto

1966/72 Luigi Moretti (1907/73)

2,000 cars on two floors over 3.6 hectares (9 acres)

Shopping center and multiple exits on Viale del Muro Torto, Via Veneto and for the subway station of Piazza di Spagna

“The relationship between structure and form, that is, between 'real construction' and 'ideal structure', is variously declined by Moretti in his works, real lessons of tectonics in which between the two terms is produced an exact identification as in the structural combination flared pillars-lowered domes of the Villa Borghese car park” (Bruno Reichlin, Annalisa Viati Navone)

PALACE OF THE SAVING BANKS AND POST OFFICE

PALAZZO DELLA CASSA DI RISPARMIO E DELLE POSTE

Piazza Dante Alighieri 25

End of nineteenth century by the Belgian Luigi Rolland (about 1898/1914), father of Luigi Moretti

In the GARDENS IN PIAZZA DANTE there should have been a monument to Dante, but it was never done

Since 2007 the gardens are dedicated to Mary Begum and his little son Hasib, both dead for an accidental fire in the nearby Via Buonarroti

PALACE FOR OFFICES OF THE "PEOPLE'S BANK OF MILAN"

PALAZZO DEGLI UFFICI DELLA BANCA POPOLARE DI MILANO

Piazzale Flaminio 1

1972/73 by Luigi Moretti (1907/73) with the collaboration of Carlo Zacutti

It was one of the last works of the great Roman architect who expressed himself here in a style known as “international” very contrasting with the nineteenth-century buildings of the square, with the Mannerist Porta del Popolo and with the ancient Aurelian Walls

“Through the decorative invention and the refinement of coatings, not only Moretti testifies and investigates the possible wisdoms of tradition, but he triggers a powerful mechanism of dematerialization, calls into question the meaning of the architectural structure itself, reaching an aura of metaphysical abstraction” (Maristella Casciato)

COOPERATIVA ASTREA APARTMENT HOUSE

PALAZZINA PER LA COOPERATIVA ASTREA

Via Edoardo Jenner 27/29

1947/49 Luigi Moretti (1907/73)

Experiment of an apartment block with diversified locations for the rooms

“The classical derivation of Luigi Moretti's language, just filtered a little through the rationalist ideas, shone in a clear manner by a well-calibrated monumentality, by the use of very elegant 'concluded' volumetric solutions and by a great attention to light and its spatial effects” (Piero Ostilio Rossi)

“It represents one of the first projects by Moretti after the war and already has the formal solutions of high strength plastic that would characterize the success of his later production. The novel volumetric articulation solves the difficulty of lot with a bad northern exposure. So the areas of services, along with the stairwells, is grouped in a completely new way, on the main front, while the living rooms and bedrooms are developed along the front facing back toward the south. The street façade features a series of plastic episodes, always motivated by the need to ensure a functional order for environmental well-being” (Giorgio Muratore)

ITALIAN FORUM

FORO ITALICO

Piazzale del Foro Italico

Begun in the years 1928/32 by Enrico Del Debbio (1891/1973)

Continued in the years 1936/41 by Luigi Moretti (1907/73) who later was the architect of the Watergate complex in Washington DC and of the Stock Exchange Tower in Montreal

"In Del Debbio's project is still clear the intention to create a landscape in which architectural and natural elements are brought into harmony, with a reference to models that can be derived from the Greek architecture or from the large late Roman villas (...). Starting in 1933, Del Debbio's original scheme would be slowly modified by the insertion of a series of buildings and monumental works designed by different architects, that without being able to modify significantly the plan, would however distort the guidelines in a monumental sense" (Enrico Valeriani - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

"Despite its construction lasted for almost thirty years through a series of successive amendments, the Foro Italico is still, within the city of Rome, an urban intervention of considerable interest for its overall structure, for the extension and combination of the areas designated for buildings and public parks, and for the quality of some of the buildings and their location in the landscape" (Piero Ostilio Rossi)

ACCADEMIA DI EDUCAZIONE FISICA
(Academy of Physical Education)

1926/32 Enrico Del Debbio with Paolini, Delfinà and Giannelli

Now Palazzo del CONI (Palace of CONI, the Italian National Olympic Commitee) with mosaics by Angelo Canevari (1901/55) and works by Emilio Greco (1913/95), Romano Dazzi and Giuseppe Ciotti (1898/1991) from the Friuli region

"The outer surfaces, characterized by the contrast of the Pompeian red - reminiscent, however, of the red sand used on athletic tracks - with inserts of travertine, show the deliberate quoting of classical architecture, filtered through the modern language" (Giorgio Muratore)

PALAZZO DELL'ISTITUTO UNIVERSITARIO DI SCIENZE MOTORIE

(Palace of the University Faculty for Physical Education)

1937 Costantino Costantini (1904/82). Similar to Palace of CONI

On the ground floor indoor pool with mosaics by Giulio Rosso (1897/1976) and frescoes "Athletes and divers" by Angelo Canevari (1901/55)

On the first floor gym built for Mussolini 1936 by Luigi Moretti, with mosaics by Gino Severini (1883/1966) and two statues by Silvio Canevari

PIAZZALE DEL MONOLITE (Square of the Monolith)

1937 Luigi Moretti

"Monolith" 1928/32 Costantino Costantini, 36.59 m (120 feet) high including the base and the golden spire. It was believed that the spire was of pure gold and on 25 July 1943 with the fall of the fascist regime, some people ran up with ladders and tools to get the gold, only to find out that it was just golden paint

"Fountain of the Sphere" 1933 Mario Paniconi, Giulio Pediconi and Antonello Frisa. Mosaics by Giulio Rosso (1897/1976)

It is a traditional meeting place for football fans attending matches at the nearby Stadio Olimpico

STADIO DEI MARMI (Stadium of the Marbles)

1928/32 Enrico Del Debbio with Paolini, Delfinà and Giannelli. The mosaics are by Angelo Canevari (1901/55)

The capacity is about 5,300 seats

"60 statues of athletes" gift of many Italian cities sculpted in the years 1932/33 by 24 different artists including:

Attilio Selva (1888/1970) from Trieste who made four

Silvio Canevari also sculptor of four statues

Carlo De Veroli sculptor of no less than ten statues

Also Libero Andreotti, Eugenio Baroni, Nicola D'Antino (1880/1966), Tommaso Bertolino (1866/1978), Francesco Messina (1900/95), Publio Morbiducci (1889/1963) and Ercole Drei (1886/1973)

In the grandstand "Two bronze groups of fighters" and at the entrance of the track other "Two bronze groups of fighters" by Aroldo Bellini (1902/84) who made a total of 17 statues for the stadium, including four made out of bronze

TENNIS COURTS (formerly Real Tennis Stadium)

1933/34 Costantino Costantini. Statues by Eugenio Baroni

OLYMPIC SWIMMING STADIUM

1958/60 Enrico Del Debbio and Annibale Vitellozzi (1902/90)

FORESTERIA SUD (South guest quarters)

1932/36 Enrico Del Debbio. Since 1967 it became a youth hostel

CASA INTERNAZIONALE DELLO STUDENTE

(International Student House)

1960 Enrico Del Debbio and Piero Maria Lugli

FORESTERIA NORD (North Guest Quarters)

1935/36 Costantino Costantini. Formerly the seat of the Italian Littorio Youth

ACCADEMIA DI SCHERMA (Academy of Fencing)

1932/36 Luigi Moretti. Also known as Casa delle Armi, House of Weapons

L shaped plan for three halls: the library, the reception room and the gym

In the library mosaic by Angelo Canevari (1901/55) and fresco by Achille Capizzano

Fully lined with Carrara marble, is a classic example of Roman architecture between the wars

The gym allowed the simultaneous presence of 160 fencers 

"The personal research of Moretti takes a precise physiognomy in which the rationalist starting point is tamed with a method of formal control of classical derivation and particular attention to the bright and rarefied spacial solutions" (Piero Ostilio Rossi) 

In 1981 it was adapted awkwardly to courtroom and it was known as the bunker courtroom. It was the seat of many important trials of the Court of Rome including one for the kidnapping and killing of the former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro

HOUSE OF THE LICTOR'S YOUTH IN TRASTEVERE

CASA DELLA GIOVENTÙ DEL LITTORIO A TRASTEVERE

Largo Ascianghi/Via Induno

1933/35 early masterpiece by Luigi Moretti (1907/73) in part arbitrarily changed after the war, especially with the walls built arbitrarily to close the former open gyms over the three floors 

Restored in 2007

Also known as CASA DEL BALILLA (House of the Fascist Kid)

Single building block with three gyms on three floors and an articulated sequence of functional spaces that seamlessly maintain their unity

More than 2,000 could have used the services of the building at the same time

The paintings by Mario Mafai (1902/65) and the reliefs by Mario Barbieri have almost completely disappeared

"Seminal work at the beginning of the career of the architect, masterful solution to a complex architectural program in an urban situation of limited size" (Cristiana Marcosano Dell'Erba)

"It is barely recognizable now, in this messy series of construction, the building with the elegant volumetric articulation and the refined transparencies designed by Moretti" (Piero Ostilio Rossi)

SUNFLOWER HOUSE

CASA DEL GIRASOLE

Viale Bruno Buozzi 64

1950 masterpiece by Luigi Moretti (1907/73)

Early example of postmodern architecture and interpretation of cultured and refined elegance that stands out among the contemporary limitless real estate speculation

The deep and clear vertical incision gives light to the staircase at the center of the building 

"This house is the most mature expression of Luigi Moretti's architectural research. (...) The symmetry determined by the vertical incision is maintained only in the body of the projecting floors, because both the shape of the base covered in travertine (wider at the right) and the shape of the crown (different heights of the two inclined parts) tend to contradict that symmetry" (Piero Ostilio Rossi)

"The criticism of the postwar period has never forgiven the solid link with the economic right wing and the real estate speculators. He was a student of Gustavo Giovannoni and an embarrassing demon for the Roman culture, boasting of working only for nobles and oil aristocrats. We would love what is beautiful to coincide with what is good, right and useful, but instead architecture, like life, is contradictory and cannot be explained by a formula. Seen through the innocent eyes that bind form, ethics, politics, the Sunflower House is a luxury version of the many Roman buildings of real estate speculation. But, instead, it is also an extraordinary work. Moretti has carefully weaved a bright wall of windows and then opened it by a vertical cut in which the dark shadows of the rough stone base of the atrium violently flow back. A bit of madness on the solidity of the Roman walls. A baroque machine that has nothing, however, of the forms of the past. Perhaps this deep understanding of the continuity of modern and the sense of innovation, is one of the most effective antidotes that Moretti has left us against the arbitrary and narcissistic result of much contemporary architecture" (Giuseppe Strappa)