Marcello Piacentini (1881–1960) – praised and criticized creator of Fascist Rome
Marcello Piacentini (1881–1960) – praised and criticized creator of Fascist Rome
View of the EUR according to the design of Marcello Piacentini
Marcello Piacentini, the former Corso cinema and theatre
Marcello Piacentini, Rector’s office building, Città Universitaria
Marcello Piacentini, University chapel La Divina Sapienza, Città Universitaria
Marcello Piacentini, interior of University chapel La Divina Sapienza, Città Universitaria
Marcello Piacentini, Basilica of San Cuore di Cristo Re, church façade
Marcello Piacentini, Basilica of San Cuore di Cristo Re
Marcello Piacentini presenting the plans of the future via della Conciliazione to the Pope
View of the university complex La Sapienza (Città Universitaria) design of Marcello Piacentini, pic. WIKIPEDIA
Via della Conciliazione according to the design of Marcello Piacentini
Marcello Piacentini, façade of the Teatro dell'Opera
He was one of the most influential Italian architects of the first half of the XX century – an uncompromising creator of the new Rome, a critic, theoretician and a teacher – but also an important „actor” on the political scene. He changed the city as no other previously had, which for some meant its ruin, while for others the creation of a modern European metropolis. He was the one, who put into from, what the city owes to Duce in the ideal dimension. The Fascist regime gave him an unprecedented possibility to put into motion his own ambitions. And he took advantage of it.
He was one of the most influential Italian architects of the first half of the XX century – an uncompromising creator of the new Rome, a critic, theoretician and a teacher – but also an important „actor” on the political scene. He changed the city as no other previously had, which for some meant its ruin, while for others the creation of a modern European metropolis. He was the one, who put into from, what the city owes to Duce in the ideal dimension. The Fascist regime gave him an unprecedented possibility to put into motion his own ambitions. And he took advantage of it.
Yet flirting with the supporters of Mussolini seemed difficult to imagine at the beginning of his career. Marcello’s father, Pio Piacentini, was a well-known and valued Roman architect with anticlerical views, in addition to being a member of the Masonic lodge persecuted by the Fascists. And it was in his workshop that the young Marcello (from 1909 until 1919) acquired his first architectural experience and worked on buildings scattered throughout Italy. Thanks to his talent and his father’s contacts he quickly acquired independent commissions in the city on the Tiber and became a member of groups of Italian creators of architecture, while broadening his knowledge during foreign voyages in Europe and America.
Initially he created in the style of Vienna Secession, he experimented with Neo-Baroque and introduced elements of Neo-Classicism into his buildings. After the assumption of power (March on Rome, 1922), by Benito Mussolini, who in architecture saw a significant propaganda element, the ambitious artist found a great place to show off his skills. The monumental design of the Church of Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re, began by Piacentini in 1919 in the style of Italian Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque was at that moment halted. The architect would for years work on its plans to finally in the 1930s create an ideal example of pure in spirit and monumental in form body, at the same time constituting a breakthrough in the field of sacral architecture, but not only. This building also meant a definite break with the style of the earlier works of this artist, creating a completely original quality. And it was this decade of the 30s that was the apogee of the career and significance of Piacentini. He held the most important posts in the area of urban planning and architecture, he gave out commissions, selected designers, was the head judge in the most important national competitions and Mussolini’s „guide” in this field of art. And it was under his auspices, as the High Commissar of Architecture, that a lot of the medieval buildings in the city were torn down, to create space for wide and modern streets, of which the via della Conciliazione can serve as a great example. Piacentini’s architectural style was known as “classical modernism”, which will now always be a part of the Roman landscape and is characterized by the use of processed ancient elements and combining them with ascetic forms of cylinders and prisms.
Thanks to his influences, but also his charisma, the artist gathered around himself architects from various walks of life, including a group of the so-called rationalists, who put particular emphasis on the functionality of urban planning arrangements, frugality of means and purism. Their most important joint work was the Città Universitaria university complex, of which the head creator was Piacentini. And even though he did not share in the rationalists’ radicalism, he allowed them to experiment and make thoroughly modern plans, bereft of the monumentalism which had characterized him.
His greatest, albeit unfinished urban undertaking was creating, on the outskirts of Rome, along with a throng of young architects, the EUR complex built for the needs of the planned World Fair (1942). It was to be Mussolini’s small town – a symbol of new Fascist Italy. The whole complex was to be finished off with an altar of “the new order” which did not come to pass. In its place, after the war, the Palazzetto dello Sport was built, which Piacentini co-designed.
The post-war years however, were for the architect a period of marginalization. Stigmatized or ignored by anti-fascist critics, it was not until the end of the XX century that once again he drew the interest of a wider group of researchers. His works were analyzed anew, his architecture once again appreciated and given the proper significance, while the structures he created - the status they deserved.
Piacentini’s most important structures and architectural arrangements in Rome:
Corso Cinema at Piazza Lorenzo in Lucina 1917
Basilica of San Cuore di Cristo Re, viale Mazzini, 1919-1934
Albergo degli Ambasciatori at via Veneto, 1926
Casa Madre dei Mutilati, 1928
Palazzo del Ministero delle Corporazioni at via Veneto, 1932
The apartment building at Lungotevere Tor di Nona (including the architect’s workshop)
The architect’s private residence at via Piacentini/via Camilluccia, 1932
Design of a university complex (Città Universitaria), in which the architect created the main building of the rectory (1935) and the La Divina Sapienza university chapel, 1948
Setting out the via della Conciliazione, 1936-1950
Teatro dell’Opera di Roma – a temple of Italian music
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