Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
resentation of
The Church on Earth,
St Ambrose (on the extreme right of the centre
group) has JP Morgan's face, and General Garibaldi and Abraham Lincoln (wearing a
green tunic) are among the warriors.
PALAZZO DELLE ESPOSIZIONI
CULTURAL CENTRE
( 06 3996 7500;
www.palazzoesposizioni.it
; Via Nazionale 194; 10am-8pm Tue-Thu & Sun, 10am-10.30pm
Fri & Sat; Via Nazionale)
This huge neoclassical palace was built in 1882 as an exhibition
centre, though it has since served as HQ for the Italian Communist Party, a mess hall for
Allied servicemen, a polling station and even a public toilet. Nowadays it's a splendid cul-
tural hub, with cathedral-scale exhibition spaces hosting blockbuster art exhibitions and
sleekly designed art labs, as well as a bookshop and cafe.
The building also hosts everything from multimedia events to concert performances ,
film screenings and conferences, and has an excellent glass-roofed restaurant that proffers
a bargain buffet lunch (€15).
PIAZZA DELLA REPUBBLICA
( Repubblica)
Flanked by grand 19th-century neoclassical colonnades, this landmark
piazza was laid out as part of Rome's post-unification makeover. It follows the lines of the
semicircular
exedra
(benched portico) of Diocletian's baths complex and was originally
known as Piazza Esedra.
was unveiled by architect Mario Rutelli in 1901. The nudity of the four naiads (water
nymphs), who surround the central figure of Glaucus wrestling a fish, was considered too
provocative - how Italy has changed! Each reclines on a creature symbolising water in a
different form: a water snake (rivers), a swan (lakes), a lizard (streams) and a sea horse
(oceans).
PIAZZA
