Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and Palazzo Grassi renovation. In Rome, Richard Meier divided opinion with his 2006
Ara Pacis pavilion. The first major civic building in Rome's historic centre in more than
half a century, the travertine, glass and steel structure was compared to a petrol station by
popular art critic Vittorio Sgarbi, who described it as an 'indecent cesspit by a useless ar-
chitect'. Less controversial is Meier's wave-like Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso, a
light-drenched church in suburban Rome commissioned by the Vatican to celebrate the
2000 Great Jubilee.
A little more love was given to Zaha Hadid's bold, sinuous MAXXI art gallery in
northern Rome, which earned the Iraqi-British starchitect the prestigious RIBA (Royal In-
stitute of British Architects) Sterling prize in 2010. Art and culture will also rule the roost
at Rome's new arts centre for the Fondazione Alda Fendi. Set in a Fascist-era housing
block and expected to open in 2014, its creator is French architect Jean Nouvel.
Not to be outdone, Milan is catapulting its skyline into the 21st century with the ambi-
tious redevelopment of its Porta Nuova district. Home to Italy's tallest building (the 231m,
César Pelli-designed UniCredit tower), the project also features Stefano Boeri's Bosco
Verticale (Vertical Forest), a pair of eco-conscious apartment towers covered in luxuriant
vegetation. Equally ambitious is Milan's CityLife project (under construction), a commer-
cial, residential and parkland development dominated by three geometrically experimental
skyscrapers by Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki and Daniel Liebeskind. City authorities have
their fingers crossed that these head-turning additions will inject Italy's world metropolis
with some much-needed edge.
8th-3rd Century BC Magna Graecia
Greek colonisers grace southern Italy with stoic temples, sweeping amphitheatres and el-
egant sculptures that later influence their Roman successors.
6th Century BC-4th Century AD Roman
Epic roads and aqueducts spread from Rome, alongside proud basilicas, colonnaded mar-
kets, sprawling thermal baths and frescoed villas.
4th-6th Century Byzantine
Newly Christian and based in Constantinople, the Empire turns its attention to the con-
struction of churches with exotic, Eastern mosaics and domes.
8th-12th Century Romanesque
