Photo Essay: Rome and the Colosseo Quadrato

A great marble horse rear up in front of the EUR's Palazzo della Civilta designed by Giovanni Guerrini, Mario Romano and Ernesto Lapadula

For Romans the EUR district represents the world of business and its wide, modern spaces are ringed by monumental buildings from the Fascist era and Italy's post-war boom, write Andreas Romagnoli and Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Photography by Andreas Romagnoli

THE broad, axial streets and austere neo-classical architecture of the EUR were originally inspired by Roman Imperial town planning and Italian Rationalist design but using traditional materials such as limestone and marble. The most iconic building is the Palazzo della Civiltà also known as the Colosseo Quadrato. Often neglected by Romans since it is linked with Fascist architecture, the building has engendered new interest from designers and architects all over the world. 

The 'Square Colosseum' has a purity of style from every angle and was designed by Italian architects Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Lapadula and Mario Romano and built between 1938-1943. Inspired by the Colosseum, the building has a series of arcaded loggias of nine arches in six rows. The building is entirely clad in travertine marble ~ a characteristic of buildings in the EUR ~ and rises up to six levels above a podium. At the four corners of the podium are four equestrian sculptural representing the Dioscuri, the two mythical Greek heroes. At the base of the building are 28 statues each illustrating industries and trades.

Today, the building sits at the heart of this residential and business district in Rome located south of the city centre. The letters EUR stand for Esposizione Universale Roma and the site was first chosen for the 1942 World Fair. Benito Mussolini planned the exhibition to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the March on Rome and the beginning of the Fascist regime. The urban plan also directed expansion of the city towards the sea and was to be a new city centre for Rome

The area of the Tre Fontane was chosen and made official on December 15, 1936. The grandeur and architecture of the buildings were planned to hark back to the glories of the ancient Roman Empire. By January 1936, work on the 400 hectare zone was entrusted to five Italian architects including designing pavilions and permanent buildings.

But the World Fair did not take place due to the Second World War and the original project was left incomplete when the works had to stop in 1942. After the war, the EUR was planned as a business district out of the city centre. The idea was avant-guarde for its time as other major developments such as London’s Docklands and La Défense in Paris were not planned until decades later. 

During the 1950s and 1960s the unfinished Fascist-era buildings were completed and others were built in contemporary styles as offices and government buildings set in extensive gardens and parks. The EUR's initial urban plan was completed in time for Rome’s 1960 Olympics including the Palazzo dello Sport designed by Nervi and Piacentini. 

The latest iconic and controversial piece of architecture to be constructed in the EUR is the new congress centre designed by Roman architect Massimiliano Fuksas. Nicknamed the 'Cloud' because of the amorphous shape inside, the building was begun in 1998 and is planned to be completed later this year. Thirty metres high, the building's exterior is translucent and has simple, linear lines that pay tribute to the 1930s rationalist architecture that characterize the EUR. 

Inside the 'cloud' is supported by a thick network of steel cables and suspended between the floor and the ceiling of the main conference hall. When the cloud is lit up the building seems to vibrate. Officially called the Nuovo Centro Congressi, it will contain an auditorium, conference and congress halls,  restaurants and a five-star hotel. The whole complex is designed with energy-saving materials and using renewable sources for heating and air conditioning.

However, the congress centre was planned at the height of the economic boom to provide Rome with its first large, high-quality congress and conference centre to attract business, some of it away from Milan. This year, the new complex will be launched into a completely different economic climate when other business exhibition centres are having difficulty filling their calendars.

The 'Cloud' designed by Massimiliano Fuksas as an auditorium and new congress centre in the EUR that is due to be completed this year.

One of the four marble sculptural groups that stand on the four corners of the building's podium

The striking building has been used in many Italian and international films and recently was the setting for Girogio Armani's Rome fashion show.

Looking up to the Colosseo Quadrato built from travertine marble between 1938-1943.

The pure symmetry of the building can be seen from the equidistant rows of nine arches that form the facade of each the four sides.

The play of light under the loggia of the Palazzo della Civilta in Rome.

The elegant Modernism of  Palazzo ENI or Palazzo del Vetro designed and built in 1962 in the EUR 

The dome of the basilica of St Peter and St Paul in the EUR.

Gleaming lights reflected on the lake at the centre of the EUR district

A contemporary glass tower that continues the EUR's expansion as a business and commercial hub in Rome.

Palazzo dei Congressi designed by Adalberto Libera in the Rationalist style in 1938 but not completed until 1954 after the war.

Looking towards the monumental square form of the Palazzo della Civilta from Via Cristoforo Colombo

Soaring columns of the Museo della Civilta Roman that are like a Roman modernist temple 

The crisp lines and austere symmetry of the EUR's urban plan.

10 Questions Column: Canadian Painter Jen Mann

Painter Jen Mann at her studio in front of her painting Bubblegum exhibited at her show at Neubacher Shor Contemporary in March 2013

Exciting young Canadian artist Jen Mann's latest figurative paintings in vivid, saturated colour illuminated her new solo show Strange Beauties. Andreas Romagnoli and Jeanne-Marie Cilento asked her 10 questions about her life and work

LIVING in Mississauga on the shores of Lake Ontario just out of Toronto, Jen Mann attended Canada's largest and oldest artistic educational institution, the Ontario College of Art and Design. She earned her BFA in print-making from the university in 2009. However, painting has been her focus since she finished her degree and she has already created a substantial body of work.

For her latest show, Mann took digital photographic off-cuts to inspire her new paintings. Her photorealist technique concretizes movement into a painterly amber, forever arrested mid-motion. Images deleted or thrown away when people are caught unaware or in awkward poses, she uses as the basis for paintings. She sees the beauty in these abstracted, odd pictures captured momentarily by the camera. By painting them in brilliant, surreal hues she heightens simultaneously the sense of the real and unreal.

Mann says the main focus of her creative work is exploring the subconscious and ideas of perceived beauty and identity. "Beauty on the fringes” was the theme for the large-scale oil and acrylic paintings. "In my newest series of works I challenge limitations to acceptable beauty," the painter says. "Limitations are death to creativity. The idea of being wrong is also a sort of death. The idea of wrong is something that intrigues me, things that don’t belong, colours that don’t quite fit together. The idea that something can be wrong makes me want to see what kind of magic lies behind the world of 'no' 'bad' and 'mistake'."

1. What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on a series that looks at painting through digital forms of abstraction, multiple exposures and pixelations.

2. What inpires you for your creative work now?

I am inspired by people, relationships, identity and existentialism. 

3. How did you choose painting as your creative metier?

Sometimes things just work out... Painting and I just work together... It was never a struggle or a fight to get along. It just always felt right.

4. Can you describe the experience, person or training that has had the greatest impact on your painting and design career?

I think my parents have had the greatest impact on my artistic career. They were very supportive from a young age. I don't think I would be where I am without that support and guidance. 

5. What do you find the most challenging aspect of your work technically?

Patience...Slowing things down to focus on the details

6. Where do you like to draw or create your initial paintings?

I have a studio where I paint. It is all white ~ so that there are no distractions. 

7. Do you have a set schedule of working creatively everyday or is the process more fluid?

I don't have a schedule in a regular sense. I work intensely when I am inspired and feeling creative. But there are many days that I just sort of store up energy and gather inspiration.

8. What part of painting gives you the most happiness and do you find your creative process is more rational or instinctive?

The painting part is very rational... The mock-up part is instinctive and fluid. I create my images in photoshop first, working with photos taken in my studio. When I work with the photos I don't have a plan for anything before I start. I just play around to find what comes to the surface. When I get down to painting, there are flourishes exaggerations but it is more rational. I like both parts ~ it's all very fun.

9. Is there a town or place in the world you consider inspiring?

Well I haven't been to many places. I find people more inspiring than places... So I guess really old places where there is lots of history, where people from many generations have lived and died... I find those places fascinating.

10. In our digital age what does painting give us as an art form and how do you define contemporary art?

Painting gives a certain type of authority in art. It is also very tactile ~ there is still an element of human touch involved. I think that authenticity is nice in our digital age. Contemporary art is everything and it is nothing... It's really all who is observing it and from what vantage point.

For more information about Jen Mann's work contact Neubacher Shor Contemporary gallery in Toronto: http://neubachershor.com 

Sway 2013 oil on canvas 50x50 inches

The artist at work on her new paintings that explore digital abstraction and pixelation.

Deep Blue Sea 2013 acrylic on canvas 48x60 inches

Cotton Candy 2013 acrylic on canvas 48x46 inches

Bubblegum 2012 acrylic on canvas 60x72 inches

Jen Mann working closely on a new large-scale figurative painting. 

Strange Beauties ~ Jen Mann's new solo show that was held at Toronto's  Neubacher Shor Contemporary in March 2013.

Medieval Skyscraper: the Palazzo dei Consoli in Gubbio Italy

The Palazzo dei Consoli rises dramatically above the medieval Umbrian town of Gubbio.

Gubbio's soaring Palazzo dei Consoli is a symbol of the town's once great medieval power and is one of the most beautiful gothic palaces in Italy, reports Jeanne-Marie Cilento from Umbria. Photographs by Jeanne-Marie Cilento and Ambrosio De Lauro

Driving through the rugged green terrain of Umbria you eventually reach Gubbio in the far northeastern corner of the Italian region. The ancient town is located on the slope of Mt Ingino, one of the mountains that form the spine of the Apennines running through central Italy. Looming above the town is the grey-pink stone mass of the castellated Palazzo dei Consoli.

Built between 1332 and 1337, the design of the building is attributed by some scholars to Gattapone and by others to Angelo da Orvieto. The majestic palazzo has plain walls made from blocks of local stone and decorated with a row of windows on its upper storey with a series of hanging arches and a Guelph battlement above. It is easy to imagine in this austere setting, the scene from Herman Hesse's novel Steppenwolf where the isolated protagonist consoles himself by recalling a scene the author may have seen during his travels: "That slender cypress on the hill over Gubbio that, though split and riven by a fall of stone, yet held fast to life and put forth with its last resources a new green branch at the top".

The imposing complex of Palazzo dei Consoli, the Palazzo Pretorio and the piazza which links them were first talked about between 1321 and 1322. The aim of this early urban plan was for the buildings to be erected in a place that could link the different quarters of the town. To construct the buildings, huge vaults were designed underneath to support the piazza which appears suspended above the town.

Tremendous engineering works were needed to create a large enough flat space on the side of  the hill to construct the Palace and the Piazza della Signoria in front of it. The building was erected on the massive arched structure below and is the largest in the world. The piazza and the surrounding architectural complex represented a new style, one that would only flower into full bloom a century later in Florence during the Renaissance.

The palace has a square plan and sits above a series of terraces corresponding to the building's lower floors. The palace was the first in the city served by a public hydraulic system, which fed a fountain - still found in the main salon of the interior. The palace's façade on the piazza is stone with round arched windows in the upper part. Above them are merlons supported by ogival arches. The lower part of the building features mullioned windows enclosing the Gothic-style portal with a 16th century fresco in the lunette. The entrance, preceded by a fan-shaped staircase, leads to the arengo, a big hall with barrel vaults that was used in the Middle Ages by Gubbio’s parliamentary assembly.

Today, the Palazzo dei Consoli houses the Civic Museum exhibiting archaeological finds from Gubbio's ancient Roman Threatre and other sites plus the famous bronze Iguvine Tablets.  Gubbio’s important picture gallery in the palace contains works by local painters and Tuscan masters. The building still retains a Medieval iron cage which was once used for public humiliation of robbers and criminals.

The rest of the historical centre of Gubbio looks essentially medieval with dim, narrow Gothic streets and dark-grey stone houses dating to the 14th and 15th centuries built for wealthy merchants. But the town has more ancient origins and the hills above Gubbio were first occupied in the Bronze Age. An important centre of ancient Umbrian peoples in pre-Roman times, the city became famous for the discovery of the Iguvine Tablets, a set of bronze tablets that constitute the largest surviving text in ancient Umbrian. After the Roman conquest in the 2nd century BC, the town originally called Iguvium, remained an important city with a Roman amphitheatre ~ the second-largest that survives in the world.

The city reached the height of its power at the beginning of the Middle Ages, sending one thousand knights to fight in the First Crusade under Count Girolamo Gabrielli. The following centuries were turbulent as Gubbio was constantly engaged in wars against surrounding towns in Umbria. With the decline of the political reign of the powerful Gabrielli family, Gubbio became part of the territories of the Montefeltro. Federico de Montefeltro rebuilt the ancient Palazzo Ducale creating a studiolo veneered with intarsia just like his renowned study at Urbino. The famous maiolica industry at Gubbio reached its apogee in the first half of the 16th century with metallic lustre glazes imitating gold and copper. A major centre for the production of Italian pottery during the Renaissance, the most important potter was Maestro Giorgio Andreoli.

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The arcaded loggia on the palace's top floors with views across the town to the surrounding Apennines.

From Gubbio's lower town, the Palazzo dei Consoli dominates the medieval city.

Walking through Gubbio past 14th and 15th Century houses, the palace's crenellated battlements are always in view. 

The entrance to the palace is through a great round-arched doorway which predates by a century the rise of Classicism during the Renaissance in Florence.

Built from the local pink-grey limestone, the Palazzo dei Consoli has a mixture of both Gothic and Classical elements that made the design at the forefront of architectural fashion when it was built between 1332-1337.

A brick and stone walkway leading up from the town to the Piazza della Signoria and the Palazzo dei Consoli

Looking down from the main portal of the palace to the wide-open space of the terracotta-coloured piazza supported, like the palace, on great arched vaults below ~ a tremendous feat of engineering for the medieval period.

One of the medieval doors in oak with cast-iron locks that opens from the palace's main entrance into the ground floor's enormous vaulted assembly room.

During the Middle Ages, this large room on the ground floor of the palace was the meeting place for Gubbio's local government. 

Today, the barrel-vaulted space is home to the town's civic museum with it's collection of ancient Umbrian, Roman and medieval artefacts.

Roman terracotta storage pots are mixed with fragments from ancient buildings that pre-date the town's medieval buildings we see today.

Terracotta and stone coat of arms in the palace's assembly hall

Marble sarcophagus with portrait busts and genii of the Seasons 3rd Century A.D

Ancient  Roman stele or gravestone found in Gubbio and exhibited in the Palazzo dei Consoli's main hall.

A worn stone internal stairway between the top floors of the palace.

One of the iron-barred windows on the top floor of the palace looking out across the town.

The Palazzo dei Consoli's ample loggia that provides views right across Gubbio and the surrounding countryside to the mountains.

Looking down from the palace's loggia to the medieval centro storico and out to the newer parts of Gubbio built on the flatter land outside the centre. 

An early photograph of the largest room on the piano nobile that was used for formal dinners with it's long oak table and chairs and walls hung with the works of local and Tuscan painters. 

The Palazzo dei Consoli today with it's original furniture, fountains and paintings.

A massive stone fireplace with Classical rather than Gothic decorative details that was used to heat the main salon on the piano nobile. 

 The famous maiolica made in Gubbio during the Renaissance and created by Maestro Giorgio Andreoli between 1525-1530.

Maiolica plate from Gubbio with a sophisticated decoration of hand-painted grotesques and a central medallion of woman in dress of the 16th Century.

A solid walnut chest for storing materials dating from the 15th Century.

 Maestro of the Cross Gubbio, Crucifix 14th Century, tempura on board. 

Earthenware pots made in gubbio in the 14th Century.

An iron Roman jug with decorative handle dating to 500 B.C found in Gubbio

A Roman marble architectural fascia from a building in Gubbio. 

A bird carved into the local stone that decorated one of the towns traditional Umbrian houses predating the Romans.

A Classical Roman male figure in white marble discovered in Gubbio. 

One of the bronze Iguvine tablets discovered in Gubbio that show the Etruscan and Latin alphabet used to describe Umbrian rituals. 

A stone carved panel created by the pre-Roman Umbrian people that lived in Gubbio.

Terracotta ancient Roman oil lamps found in Gubbio

An early Classical door surround in marble above the entrance to a 15th Century house.

Gubbio is built on terraces rising up the hillside and the town has strategic views across the countryside.

One of the tall 14th Century houses built above the carriageway leading up to Gubbio's piazza and the Palazzo dei Consoli