The internet revolution allows people today to have more informations and to plan their trip to Rome and to Italy in a proper way in order to see more monuments and archaeological sights in a shorter amount of time.



To make an example, when you are just landed at Fiumicino Rome airport, during your transfer to the hotel you can see the modern district of Rome called E.U.R.

The acronym,which stands for Esposizione Universale di Roma, has become the name of a peripheral suburb of Rome interesting for its many examples of fascist architecture.

Mussolini as prime minister of Italy between the two world wars started to work on this huge complex of office buildings and apartment blocks in 1939. It was supposed to host a big exhibition (Esposizione Universale di Roma) in 1942 but the war intervened. Olympic Games were held here in 1960 and now the place is a bit like La Defense in Paris, home to trade shows and miscellaneous companies.

There were two basic phases in EUR's development. The first phase, from January 1937, was designed by five Italian architects (Pagano, Piacentini, Piccinato, Rossi and Vietti) with a master plan for the entire exhibition complex. During this phase briefs for the permanent buildings were also announced. EUR never took place because of World War II. Work that had started on the permanent buildings was broken off in1942, and completely abandoned a year later.

The second phase of EUR's development occured after the war from 1951 to 1960. In 1955, Calza Bini developed a concept for transforming the exhibition complex into an urban district at the edge of an expanding Rome. This project was realized in subsequent years and concluded with the new building of important sport facilities for the 1960 Olympics.

The layout plan of EUR follows the basic principle of ancient city planning with a main axis avenue symmetrically surrounded by significant buildings. At the each end of main axis or cross axis, a permanent building was designed to emphasize, and terminate the axis, as was customary in Renaissance cities. Palazzo dei Ricevimenti dei Congressi, Palazzo della Civilta del Lavoro, and SS. Pietro e Paolo are the three important buildings for the main axis and cross axis, and were built during the same period.

The most famous museum to see in this district that is close to the airports of Rome is the Museum of the Roman Civilization that contains the scale reproduction of the main monuments of ancient Rome,like the famous cast of the Colosseum, and its breathtaking rooms are worth seeing because people coming to Rome can have a good historical background of the progress and development of the roman civilization.

When considering EUR in the context of architectural history, it can be understood as a fine example of Italian rationalism or functionalism. It also tried an eclectic approach that combined classical architectural vocabulary and the new modern design principle, with a result that the buildings show the lack of creative and artistic sense of design.