Palazzo Arte Antica

Designers: F.Fariello, S.Muratori, L.Quaroni.
Covered area: mq 8.000; mc 163.000.
Start and completion of works: 1939-1942.

The Palazzo is one of the four architectural structures (together with Palazzo dell'Arte Moderna, Palazzo della Scienza Universale and Palazzo delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari)  envisaged and designed in the urban plan for E42 (Esposizione Universale di Roma - Rome Universal Exhibition) to make up the central nucleus of the exhibition area, Piazza Imperiale, which, in the intentions of the designers, was to have represented a large agorà, obviously classical in origin, giving a strong celebratory feel to the whole.

Like the group of buildings facing it, Palazzo dell'Arte Antica should have had, as the architectural element connecting it to Palazzo dell'Arte Moderna, the Teatro Imperiale designed by architect Moretti but sadly never built - with the exception of its foundations - due to the outbreak of war and stoppage of the construction work.

The Palazzo has a main body with a large internal courtyard, at the centre of which, at ground floor level, a large central space was originally foreseen, a winter garden surrounded by a portico, a fascinating element that was originally open at the top, but today is covered and enriched by the presence of a colonnade faced with beautiful pale green marble. Like the Palazzo dell'Arte Moderna opposite, it features a huge monumental hall on the first floor, which rises to the full height of the building, decorated by two pairs of columns in highly valued Portoro marble.

Among other things, it currently houses Spazio Novecento, a highly glamorous entertainment venue.


 
Further information:
♦ Carlo Bertilaccio and Francesco Innamorati (edited by), EUR SpA e il patrimonio di E42, Palombi Editore 2004 - Rome.
♦ M. Calvesi, E. Guidoni, S. Lux (edited by) E42. Utopia e scenario del regime. Urbanistica architettura arte e decorazione,  Marsilio Editore 1987 - Venice.
♦ T. Gregori, A. Tartaro (edited by), E42. Utopia e scenario del regime. Ideologia e programma per l'«Olimpiade delle civiltà» Marsilio Editore 1987- Venice.
♦ EUR, guida degli istituti culturali, Leonardo Arte 1995 - Milan.
♦ E. Valeriani and F. Innamorati, EUR. Quartiere di architetture, De Luca Editori d'Arte 2012 - Rome.