That wedding in the Trieste area in the vanished location
Confirmations, weddings, celebrations: in the first half of the twentieth century this neighbourhood became one of the most fascinating areas of Rome, rich in public and private history. This is demonstrated by this shot, taken from Typimedia Editore’s volume “Come Eravamo Trieste-Salario”. It is May 1937: the shot depicts the celebrations of a wedding between […]
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A row of saplings and the first council house: the origin of Viale Jonio
The almost unpaved road, the row of recently planted saplings. And, in the background, the first counsil houses peeping out. Viale Jonio in the 1940s is almost unrecognisable. The photo, kept in the Parish of Santa Maria Assunta al Tufello, is taken from the Typimedia Editore volume “Come Eravamo Montesacro”. Families crossing the threshold of […]
Roman industrialists and shopkeepers at a banquet 110 years ago. Without women
Pietro Gentilini, with his biscuit factory between Via Alessandria and Via Novara, was an important figure in the Trieste-Salario economy in the early years of the last century. The artisan workshop established in 1890 grew to an industrial dimension in just a few years. From the family’s historical archive emerges this extraordinary photo of Pietro […]
The Marquis of Grillo who went numb in his palace in the rione Sant’Angelo
Even though the name of via della Tribuna Campitelli is referred to rione Campitelli, this place is part of rione Sant’Angelo. Its toponym comes from the apsys (also known as ‘tribuna’ in Italian) of the Church Santa Maria in Campitelli. This religious building stands out this narrow street, which became an immortal place thanks to […]
What Piazza Sempione looked like over 90 years ago
The bus stops, the parked cars, the hustle and bustle of traffic. Imagine that all this disappears, that the time clock takes a giant leap backwards to the late 1930s. We discover a sparsely populated and extremely charming Piazza Sempione, where we catch a glimpse of a child playing in the street and a couple […]
“Dear Marcella’: the last letter of partisan Orlando
“Dear Marcella when you read this, which will be my last contact with you, I will be in the world where at least I will find some peace, if the good God who can do all things permits”. Thus begins the moving letter that the Montesacro partisan Orlando Orlandi Posti, called Lallo by his friends, […]
1870, bersaglieri posing at Porta Pia: the Papal State has just surrendered
Of course, the photo is constructed. The bersaglieri are posing above the barricade. But the breach at Porta Pia is still fresh. The cannon shots have finished echoing throughout the area. The Papal States have just raised the white flag after a four-hour siege. At 5 a.m. on 20 September 1870, the Italian artillery had […]
Centrale Montemartini, art after electricity
Along via Ostiense, on the left bank of the Tiber opposite the former Mercati Generali, the Centrale Montemartini is a perfect example of the conversion of an industrial archaeology building into a museum. What started out as the first public electricity production plant, named after Giovanni Montemartini, is now the second exhibition centre of the […]
Post-war class photo at “Mazzini”
It would be nice to take a snapshot of the future lives of these boys posing for the fateful class photo in 1948 at the Mazzini School in Via Volsinio. To recognise, perhaps, someone who towards the end of the 1950s, having become an adult, opened a restaurant, a newsagent, a shop in the heart […]
Domus Aurea, the house of Nero after his incendiary madness
After the fire of Rome in 64 A.D., which destroyed much of the city centre, Emperor Nero had a new imperial residence built stretching from the Palatine Hill to the Opian Hill and part of the Caelian Hill, which went down in history as the Domus Aurea because of its splendor. Designed by architects Severus […]