Roam Words: EUR

Very few tourists go to EUR, Mussolini’s Esposizione Universale Roma although they all see it from the airport. It’s impossible to miss the giant dome of the Basilica of Peter and Paul, and the Palazzo della Civiltà Romana , the “square colosseum” designed and built in the 1940’s to celebrate 20 years of fascist rule.

Mussolini had a great admiration for ancient Rome (as much as he razed some of it to build his grand roads) and the architecture of the public buildings were built along the lines of such monuments as Trajan’s Markets and the Forum. Materials like travertine, tufa and marble were used in a take-no-prisoners clean aesthetic, and the public buildings, arranged within a grid with central axis, stand out in stark relief.

There are no piazzas, no chaos and none of the crowding usually associated with Rome. It’s largely a business district, with head offices for a lot of national and multi-national companies based here.

So why go there? Because there are three museums at EUR, and they all house incredible treasures. One, the Civiltà Romana, displays the scale model of ancient Rome, familiar to anyone who has seen a travel guide to Rome. The Forma Urbis, or the Severan Marble Map of Rome from 200 AD is also held here. Unfortunately the Civilta Romana remains closed due to lack of funds.

Another, the Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum houses artefacts and information on human settlements from the Iron Age, including tombs from the Bronze age uncovered close by at Tolfa, a little to the North.

The museum I visited yesterday, along with my italian conversation buddy, was the Museum of Early Middle Ages, which houses some beautiful finds from the settlements of the Lungobards in Italy. Armour, jewellery and weaponry in precious metals and stone dazzles. But the greatest surprise of all is housed here – an entire frescoed room in opus sectile, a style of marble mosaic, uncovered from Ostia Antica in 1960 and reassembled here at the museum. The room, part of a seaside villa, dates from 385 AD. No-one knows why this room remained uncompleted (the stones were laid out in special formation, ready to be fixed to the walls and ceiling) although there are theories. Was there an earthquake? Was there a pagan revolt? Miraculously the completed walls collapsed in on themselves, sealing the mosaics in several layers. Within the reconstructed room you can see lions and tigers hunting prey and the figure of a man, with halo, believed alternately to be Christ, or a philosopher. The mosaics are of the highest quality and marbles are lovely.