TRAIN STATION TO OSTIA LIDO

STAZIONE FERROVIA ROMA-LIDO
Piazzale Ostiense

1920/23 Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960)

He abandoned the secessionist influence of his previous works and he designed here a kind of rural architecture

“Piacentini was inspired by two main ideas: the sea and classical antiquity. Besides, at that time the area was still almost in the country: there were only some monuments such as the Pyramid and, beyond it, Aventine and Testaccio hills. From the outside the station looks like an archaic temple, with its four pillars to support the pediment. And then the false fragments of sarcophagi and bas-reliefs with heads of the Gorgons, embedded in the outer walls. But the new railway was leading to the sea and he had to quote, that starting from the palm trees, planted at the beginning of the tracks. And then the decorations: on the ceiling crabs and flowers with petals of shells. And at the entrance three panels as graffiti on lime imitate the ancient mosaics of Ostia and those of the Villa of Pliny in Castel Fusano and have as subject marine mythological scenes: in one of them, two men have just caught a mermaid weeping. And yet nymphs and seahorses, in addition to Neptune and Poseidon. A sister station in Ostia was destroyed by bombing of World War Two” (Esther Palma - Corriere della Sera of 25 October 2004)

PYRAMID OF GAIUS CESTIUS

PIRAMIDE DI GAIO CESTIO

Piazzale Ostiense

About 18/12 BC Tomb of Gaius Cestius Epulone (d. 12 BC), perhaps the praetor in 44 BC

It was built in less than 330 days for his heirs, according to the inscription on one side: the last will and testament of Gaius Cestius was that if they had not completed it within 330 days they would not have obtained his rich heritage

36.40 m (119.4 feet) high, the base sides measure 29.50 m (96.4 feet)

It is an enormous flow of concrete covered with slabs of Carrara marble

It was known in the Middle Ages as Meta Remi (post of Remus) being meta a word indicating the post in form of a pyramid or cone placed in the center of circuses (hippodromes) and therefore by extension indicating in the Middle ages the tombs with this shape

The Meta Romuli (post of Romulus) was located at the beginning of today's Via della Conciliazione and it was demolished in 1499. It was similar in size to the Pyramid of Gaius Cestius

The rectangular cell of 5.85 x 4 m (19.2 x 13.1 feet) was richly decorated with paintings almost completely disappeared except for “Four Victories” at the corners of the vault: it is the oldest example of decoration of the so-called III Pompeian style

ACEA PALACE

PALAZZO DELL'ACEA

Piazzale Ostiense 2

1960 Cesare Valle (1902/2000) and Ignazio Guidi (1904/78)

ACEA is a public company that is responsible for the management of water and energy services

“Ignazio Guidi was in constant contact with fellow architects and engineers of his generation, with whom he formed design teams for competitions, and participated in the fervent cultural debate of the time, which led to the slow but steady emergence of modern architecture and the contemporary defeat of neoclassical and academic positions, who had many followers in Rome” (Filippo Spaini - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Fountain in front of the palace 1962 by Ludovico Quaroni (1911/87)