EUR

(EUR - Esposizione Universale di Roma - e i suoi Musei) EUR, today an elegant satellite town on the South side of Rome, was a product of Mussolini's planning.

Like the Olympic stadium on the north with its naked statues and admirable black and white mosaics, these represent the best of Fascist architecture.

EUR was originally conceived for the World's Fair of 1942, which never took place since Italy entered World War II in 1940


Our favorite: the most harmonious building is without question the so-called Colosseo Quadrato (properly Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro) which sits atop its hundreds of white stairs, its arches playing shadow games with the sun, like in a Giorgio de Chirico painting.
There is also a gigantic domed church, Santi Pietro e Paolo, a modern conception reminiscent of both the Pantheon and St. Peter's.


Near here the Museo della Civilta' Romana boasts the complete model of ancient Rome and is well worth a visit. Hundreds of minor and major Roman personages, mournful in their dusty togas, are plaster copies of the statuary of ancient times. They also have a life-size walk-in Roman library and many fascinating models: oil presses, country houses, kitchens, etc.

In the next square towards Via Cristoforo Colombo, is Museo Nazionale delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, a costume museum with each province's costumes from the previous centuries, with wooden farm implements on the ground floor. There are occasionally special exhibitions.

Across this piazza is the Museo dell'Alto Medioevo (Late Medieval), one floor up, mostly jewelry, ceramics and horses' bridles, with the cleanest bathrooms in town.

Next door is the Museo Preistorico ed Etnografico Luigi Pigorini which has the actual vestiges of a Roman barge shown as discovered underwater (in Lake Bracciano) (see Museums).