1. Palazzo Uffici - Palazzo del Commissariato e dell’Ente Autonomo - G. Minnucci, 1937-1942

2. Palazzo Uffici - Palazzo del Commissariato e dell’Ente Autonomo - G. Minnucci, 1937-1942

3. Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana - Palazzo mostra della Civiltà Italiana - G. Guerrini, E. La Padula, M. Romano, 1938-1953

4. Esedra dell’edificio dell’INA - Edifici nella piazza di Ingresso all’E42 - G. Muzio, M. Paniconi, G. Pediconi, 1938-1954

5. Edificio dell’INA - Edifici nella piazza di Ingresso all’E42 - G. Muzio, M. Paniconi, G. Pediconi, 1938-1954

6. Viale Civiltà del Lavoro, vista verso Sud-Est (Palazzo dei Congressi)

7. Obelisco in Piazza Guglielmo Marconi - Piazza Imperiale - F. Fariello, L. Quaroni, L. Moretti, S. Muratori, 1939-1959

8. Piazza Guglielmo Marconi - Piazza Imperiale - F. Fariello, L. Quaroni, L. Moretti, S. Muratori, 1939-1959

9. Ufficio Postale - Palazzo delle Poste, dei Telefoni e dei Telegrafi - BBPR, 1939-1952

10. Edificio caserma dei Vigili del Fuoco all’E42 - Edificio caserma dei Vigili del Fuoco - C. Longo, C. De Maria, 1939-1953

11. Padiglione laterale per uffici parrocchiali della Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo - Chiesa E42 - A. Foschini, A. Energici, T. Rossi, C. Vetriani, 1937-1952

12. Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo - Chiesa E42 - A. Foschini, A. Energici, T. Rossi, C. Vetriani, 1937-1952

13. Viale Europa, vista verso Sud-Est (Archivio Centrale dello Stato)

14. Parco centrale del lago - R. De Vico - M.T.Parpagliolo, 1937-1953

15. Archivio Centrale dello Stato - Edifici delle Forze Armate, Mostra dell’Autarchia, del Corporativismo, e della Previdenza Sociale - M. De Renzi, G. Pollini, L. Figini, 1939-1952

16. Viale Europa, vista verso Nord-Ovest (Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo)

17. Museo della Civiltà Romana - Edificio per la Mostra della Romanità - Aschieri, D. Bernardini, C. Pascoletti, E. Peressutti, 1939-1952

18. Viale Civiltà del Lavoro, vista verso Nord-Ovest (Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana)

19. Palazzo dei Congressi - Palazzo delle feste, ricevimenti e congressi - A. Libera, 1938-1954

The idea of the Universal Exhibition in Rome, designed to represent and enhance the Italian civilization, was founded in 1935. Mussolini decided to program it for 1942, to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of Fascism: E42 was born. The choice of “Tre Fontane” area should represent an expansion of the city towards the sea; architectural language should be a strong recall to the glories of the ancient Empire. Final urban project was ready in 1939, when the Second World War already broke out: construction sites were finally stopped in 1942.

With these photographs I try to discover what remains of buildings designed in the first E42 project, and the relationship that these architectures have today with contemporary city life and dynamics.

What remains is a belief, that was shattered against his own ambition, an interrupted dream represented by heavy travertine and marble columns, suspended between the perfection of the project and the corruption of those who live in the reality of everyday life with aphaty.
People are worn out by routine of daily work, their eyes are blind to what’s happening around them, because they’re always just looking for a car place in the streets that nowadays are endless parking lots.

Human figure compares with silhouettes carved in bassorilievi, the only elements proportionate to them in a reality that makes his out-of-range the element of strength, and populated by statues crystallized in anachronistic poses.
Orthogonal urban structure, with large streets punctuated by pine trees, a reminiscence of the sea that is just few kilometers away, provides to people as well as an orientation, also the certainty of a vain presence behind them, wherever one has to go: an object symbol of that belief.

What remains is architecture, lacking of colors, dominated by strong chiaroscuro created by spatial and meaningless voids that history has engraved in it.
Strict colonnades are too high and not able to offer a shelter, resting on tall platforms with stairs covered by pollution: life doesn’t consume them, it stops outside of them and doesn’t seem to be interested to cross the physical boundary between asphalt or porphyry stone and marble, a space that still seems aimed at people living in a different time.

What remains is power, and his own conviction, that to remain over time as a symbol of a urban cortocircuito. Real redemption comes only from nature: green areas, parks and the central lake are spaces that history defeat has failed to freeze. New construction sites are barely filling urban voids, creating glares that makes even the future something ephemeral.