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Short cuts about the urban history of modern Rome (1870-2000)
Prof. Massimo CASAVOLA
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Rome -until then capital of the Papal State- became capital of the Kingdom of Italy in 1870. At that time, the city was a small strange town, totally estrange to the economic logics and to the urban phenomena of modernity and its identity totally overlapped with its role of capital of the Catholic Religion.
The urban structure was still the Late-Renaissance one, born during the Sisto V Pontificate and improved in the following years. Its population was substantially stable and was less than 200.000 inhabitants.
The new status pushed the city to renew and grow as quickly as possible.
In 1900 its population was more than doubled, becoming more than 400.000 inhabitants.
Nowadays Rome counts more circa 3.000.000 inhabitants.
The first degrees of development of the modern city was characterized by:
-The construction of the banks of the Tiber river (to avoid risks of flooding) and new bridges.
-The constitution of infrastructions needed to govern the new state (starting from the Ministers) partially realized ex novo and partially collocated in big historic preexisting buildings.
-The construction of new residential quarters destined to a petty and medium bourgeoisie composed of immigrants coming from all regions, divided in two dominant classes: the one of the government employees and the one of traders.
Until then -and nowadays too- the city economy is founded on its political, cultural and turistic role, with the substantial absence of an industrial economy. Among the new quarter built at he end of 1800, the first two are Prati di Castello and Esquilino, round the big Vittorio Square.
Without an industrial economy, the urban and architectural quality of the new quarters is conditioned by strong spectulative tendencies. At the beginning of the XX century, the Universal Expo of 1911 is the most important urban and cultural event that leads to the construction of the della Vittoria quarter (where the Via Sabotino market takes place, object of our workshop) that is a prosecution on the East side of the Prati quarter, that presents a better architectural and urban quality because of the outstanding event that brought to its birth.
During the years of the Fascist Regime, the city becomes object of particular attention and important works. Among the most important interventions, above all, we have to remember a systematic activity of demolition that deeply changed the city image.
First of all, the one of the "spina" ("thorn") of the Borghi, a huge whole of historic building trade, medieval and renaissance, just in front of the San Peter Church, crushed to open up the Conciliazione Street (a new monumental street that leads the church to the city to celebrate the end of the dispute between the Vatican State and the Italian State).
The damages to the architectonic and urban estate were grievious an the architectonic and urban results particularly unfortunate.
Besides, as a consequence of the various demolitions, started the construction of many "borgate" (hamlets) in the external loop of the city, in which were moved the inhabitants of destroyed central districts.
As a matter of fact, not only the image but the structure itself of the city and the logic of its growth in the territory changed, as well.
Just after the war, thanks to the project of the architect Gustavo Giovannoni, is realized the new residential quarter of the Aniene "Garden City" (along the Nomentana Street, North-East side of the city), while, downtown, is taking over the Vittoriano monumental complex in Venezia Square, at the end of Del Corso Street, alongside of Campidoglio, over the most important archeological district of the city (the Fori Imperiali).
We have to remind also many actions of medium scale that introduced the modern architecture in a city that had rejected it till then: the new "Universtiy City"; a lot of public buildings (particulary interesting, some new postal offices); the construction of the Foro Italico area; the new Station of Roma Termini; the beginning of the works for the E42 (the new Universal Expo in 1942, never realized because of the Second World war) and that became after the war the new directional quarter, the so called EUR.
After the war, after one last strong demographic growth, that speeded up the expansion of the city toward the external, the most significant urban and architectural actions were realized during the Olympic Games in 1960, that led to the realization of a number of vehicular routes of scrolling along the historic center and to the construction of the Olympic Street (huge ring-finger, assigned to the inter-quarter traffic); to the fulfillment of the "Foro Italico"; to the realization of the Sport "Palazzo" and "Palazzetto"; to the construction of the Olympic Village, that after the Olympic Games became a "model" residential quarter; and to the realization of many actions of petty scale.
Some "grey" decades follow, from the architectural and the city point of view (good to remember at least the new RAI Building, the new magistrate's courts of Clodio Square and the controversial building the Corviale).
Substantially, the big oportunities determined by the World Championship of 1990 were lost and (a little less but always lost) the one for the Jubilee of 2000.
Anyway, even if it has been hard, during the last years of XX century started a new phase characterized by a more systematic renewal activity.
We want to remember here, new squares in central and semi-peripheral areas and new roman museum, obtained in the old Centrale Montemartini, in the area of the old gasometers on the Ostiense Street.
By those, were realized (or are going to be realized) some big works of art, primarily signed by the current international Archistar (the new Auditorium by Renzo Piano; the church of Tor Tre Teste and the Ara Pacis Museum by Meier; the new museums by Zaha Hadid and Odile Decq; the renewal of the area of the General Markets by Rem Koolhas, already approved but not yet started). They are building at this time the new Tiburtina Station (by the ABDR group), destined to the High Speed net.
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