Rome architecture: Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana or the sqaure colosseum opens in 2009

Rome’s archaeological heritage will be even richer next year as it looks likely that Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, in restoration since 2003, will have the first two floors open from 2009.
The original opening was set for 2011, but from next year, a multimedia exhibition will be housed on these floors.

The building, sometimes referred to as the ‘Colosseo Quadrato’ or square colosseum, is a symbol from fascist times, and was started at the behest of Mussolini in 1935.

Inscribed on the building’s marble is “a population of poets, of artists, of heroes, of saints, of scientific thinkers, of navigators, of transmigrators”.

The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana can be found at EUR, or Esposizione Universale Roma (also E42 in Rome), and has appeared in a number of films, with scenes of Anthony Hopkins in Rome, and Anita Ekberg in Rome.
For more information go to Eur Spa.