1. Pio Piacentini’s project as part of the programme for Rome as the capital city

In 1874 the construction of the new station (from plans by Salvatore Bianchi) was completed and thus the need for a strongly visible connecting link with the city centre came to be of pressing importance: Via Nazionale consequently became a prominent road axis in the new development of the city, with the striking design of Piazza Esedra (then Piazza delle Terme), which in Koch’s project, put into effect between 1886 and 1890, retraced the course of the ancient Roman baths complex of the Thermae Diocletiani, with a reference to ancient Rome that Michelangelo had also proposed for the construction of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Leading off from this grand piazza, which offers a monumental welcome to anyone arriving at the station, the broad Via Nazionale, extended to Piazza Venezia, connected up with the city’s historic centre.

At the time, the choices regarding urban planning, the location of the most important buildings, and the results of the competition gave rise to a heated debate about the construction of a modern city that had, of necessity, to be incorporated within a very complex urban fabric, which risked being drastically breached with every choice. As the mayor, Luigi Pianciani, wrote in 1882, "Rome is the greatest museum in the world, but as a capital city it is not satisfying the needs of the present … It is not a city authority to be administered, it is the greatest of ancient metropolises to be respected, and it is a modern metropolis to be created."

The competition for the Palazzo delle Esposizioni Nazionali di Belle Arti (National Fine Arts Exhibition Building) should be seen within this context: that of planning the construction of particularly representative buildings, and of equipping the city with all the necessary structures for its new function as the capital city. So the desire was to create a building which enhanced the city’s cultural vocation, the first in Italy to be completely devoted to Fine Arts though not actually a museum, which would regularly document past and present artistic history while holding its own against comparison with the other great European models.

An initial competition was announced in 1876, without establishing any designated area but leaving freedom of choice to the planners (some suggested the Piazza del Popolo), and without indicating the amount of money to be allocated to it. It was a very vague announcement which gave few indications of any substance; it states: "The building for the aforesaid national Exhibition, on an area to be designated, should occupy a space of 4,000 square metres, on two floors only, and may be surrounded by gardens." Forty projects were presented, and were displayed at the Collegio Romano. A little more than a year later a second competition was published indicating the area in Via Nazionale considered to be the most suitable area for the representative character that the building was to have, and thus it was no accident that it was located in this important urban area representing the central access route to the historic city centre. Seventy-four projects were presented.

After much controversy, and not without some indecision among the commission judges, the winning place was awarded to the project by Pio Piacentini, labelled with the motto "Sit quod vis simplex et unum" (In the end, make it as you will, as long as it is a simple and unified composition). The construction work only started in 1880 and the building was inaugurated at a solemn ceremony in 1883.

Pio Piacentini was born in Rome in 1846 and during his architectural training at the Accademia di San Luca, of which he later became president, he absorbed that purist tendency which dominated the city under Pio IX. In his projects, as in those of many of his contemporary Roman architects, heirs to an academic culture, attention was given mainly to design, rather than to the urban context in which the building was to be located. Piacentini was aware of this problem as regards the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, however, (the limited space, the restricted margin of access onto the street, the drop down onto Via Nazionale, later accentuated by the construction of  the tunnel) and, as we will see, he later sought to provide solutions that were not implemented.

2. The Features of the Design and the Debate on Style

The building is remarkable for its bulk, the deep-set arch over the entrance and the series of statues (added at a later date) placed on the columns and pilasters that punctuate the facade.
The monumental effect is concentrated chiefly on the central portion of the facade, while the setback of the upper floor and the compact volumes that define the front of the building, as well as the interior spaces, all still seem to derive their inspiration from Purism. Compared with the other designs submitted for the competition, Piacentini’s is surely the least eclectic, one in which the classicist tradition (the triumphal arch entrance, the pilasters breaking the flat surfaces of the outer walls, and the central plan and symmetry of the interior) is mitigated to an extent by the search for an international style.

The problem of style was the heart of the architectural debate of the period, and the competition to design the Palazzo delle Esposizioni was marked by repeated clashes over the question. "A building with no windows" – this was one of the most controversial elements of the design, along with the "French" influence at the cost of adhesion to a national style, which caused conflict within the adjudicating commission itself, but, more importantly, gave rise to a highly critical campaign on the part of the press.

For the most part, the search for a national style coincided with a revival of historical styles, which meant that classicism was no longer the exclusive standard to dominate. In the process of transforming the urban fabric of Rome, however – from roads, to representative buildings, to residential construction – what prevailed were notions that had little to do with the city’s tradition. The laying out of new streets, which included large-scale demolition wherever possible; the opening of wide boulevards and arrow-straight avenues, and the construction of bulky government buildings and apartment blocks that echoed their design, albeit more modestly, were an obvious reference to the metamorphosis of Paris under Napoleon III (as well as the tradition in Italy’s Piemonte). The pre-eminence of the city’s historic structure, however, could only foil a broad scheme of this kind and jeopardize that balance between ancient and modern understood by Pianciani to be the vocation of Rome, the capital of a united Italy.

In actual fact the critics of the design for the exhibition hall failed to understand its most significant features. The lack of windows was intended to create continuous interior surfaces that would exploit exhibition requirements to the utmost, while the transparency of the ceilings in iron and glass would allow natural light to enter from above, which was considered the light most suited to the building’s functions. Finally, the symmetry of the layout – the convergence of the six large rooms around the central rotunda, the mirror-like nature of the two parts of the building which allows for continuity in the design and a linear route through the rooms both horizontally as well as vertically – all served to define an open space, but one convergent on a centre, and one in which the loftiness of the design is visible mainly in the decorative elements (the stuccoes, the coffered ceilings, the marmoridea that covers part of the colonnade).

Costantino Dardi, the architect who restored the building a century later, salvaging as much of the original design as possible, had this to say about the building’s interior, calling it a space "in which the theme of visibility dominates: looking, and looking sidelong, appear to be the constant in the design’s aim. Looking from the street to the inside and from inside to the street; looking down from above and up from below; looking at the rooms from the grand staircase and at the staircase from the rooms; stretching one’s glance over the long view and then padding it with canvases, frames, panels and screens that in some spots throw the building’s luminosity into shadow."

The back of the building was originally covered by a ceiling in glass and iron (which will be reproduced in a modern version in the course of the current restyling); this was a transparent space that the architects intended as a link between the interior and the gardens outside that faced the Palazzo del Quirinale. Indeed, the question of how to link interiors to the outside was one of Piacentini’s overriding concerns: how to transcend the narrow confines of the site allotted to the exhibition hall, which seriously cramped the design’s style and made its monumental air incongruous. Piacentini first considered dismantling the church of San Vitale piece by piece and reassembling it inside a park, thus creating an ample space around the building; later he thought of realigning the church’s axis around that of the street and raising the church to the same street level as the exhibition hall. Finally, all too aware of the church’s isolation, only heightened by the lowering of the street level in order to create the tunnel under the Quirinale, he designed a staircase with two ramps that would embrace the base of the church itself, a solution that was almost Baroque. These plans were not approved, however, and the architect only added on to the outer staircase by building two new levels.

The statues were added to the facade in the late 1980s, although they do happen to reflect the decorative scheme of the original architect himself. The sculptors were from the academic school (Cencetti, Biggi, Aureli, Trabacchi, Ferrari, Galletti and others), and the subjects were equally academic: at the top, art sustained by peace and knowledge; on the portico’s four pillars architecture, sculpture, painting and industrial art; along the balustrades twelve artists from the past.

The exhibition hall was inaugurated on 21 January 1883 in great pomp, in the presence of the King of Italy. Initially the exhibition itself was to be limited to Italian artists alone, but was then opened to a few foreign artists, a limited number of minor importance. There was a clear political significance to the exhibition, which reflected a cultural milieu that was academic and traditionalist to the extreme. For the most part, the subjects of the works were drawn from episodes in Roman history whose symbolism was enhanced by the recent battles of the Risorgimento, or else by themes inspired by the early days of Christianity. There was a studied equilibrium, therefore, between secular and religious elements. Not to mention the landscape paintings, which were a testament to an academic style far from the exploration of realism that the advent of impressionism was consolidating in France and other European countries, even influencing the selection process at the official salons.

3. Restoration work in the 1930s and the first Quadriennali (Quadrennial Exhibitions)

From the year following its inauguration, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni was the permanent site for over three decades for the exhibitions of the Società degli Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti (Society for Fine Art Collectors and Connoisseurs), an association founded in 1829 and composed of the most representative artists working in Rome, together with leading figures among the ruling elite, the aristocracy, merchants, intellectuals and academics. It was a society that came into existence in the culturally conservative climate of the Papal city of Rome, and it was mainly focused on the Rome art scene, although it was also supported by figures such as Bertel Thorvaldsen and Horace Vernet, with King Ludwig of Bavaria elected as honorary president. The exhibitions reflected an extremely conservative vision, even by comparison with other centres of artistic culture in Italy, and thus Rome failed to take on the role of international showcase which was assumed a few years later by the Venice Biennial.

An attempt at modernization was made with the four International Exhibitions of Secession Art, which took place at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni from 1913 to 1916 with the aim of documenting what was happening abroad, though with a certain time lag, as well as the work of artists in Italy inspired by a general modernism, working in various fields from painting to sculpture, and from architecture to applied arts. The phenomenon of the profound renewal of taste, artistic conception and expressive forms that occurred in France, Germany, Austria and other European countries in the various Secession or Art Nouveau movements, did not really make itself felt in Rome.

In 1927, the Governatorato of Rome decided to institute the Esposizioni Quadriennali d’Arte Nazionale (Quadrennial Exhibitions of National Art), to be held in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, with the first exhibition to be inaugurated on 1 March 1931. During their deliberations, in addition to the appointment of the members of the organizing committee presided over by the Governatore (representatives from the Accademia di San Luca, the Società degli Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti, the international artistic association and artists appointed by various institutions), the budget was also established: 250,000 lire annually and one million lire for each staging of the exhibition. It was also decided to provide prizes and to set aside a substantial sum for the acquisition of works of art for the Galleria Nazionale. The first Quadrennial, under the direction of the general secretary, Cipriano Efisio Oppo, was inaugurated on 3 January 1931, which was actually earlier than anticipated. The works were selected by two juries of artists, one nominated by the organizing committee and the other by representatives of the exhibiting artists themselves. The first prizes were awarded to Arturo Tosi and Arturo Martini, with important retrospectives being dedicated to Medardo Rosso and  Armando Spadini, and to Antonio Mancini who had just died.

In 1930, work began on the restructuring of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni to adapt its spaces to the exhibition’s requirements. As can be seen from the chronicles of this period and from the various sittings of the commission, it was necessary to enlarge the exhibition halls, install lifts, adapt the lighting, and provide a heating system to regulate the internal temperature which was too cold in winter and too hot in summer, and thus it was decided to knock down the "ugly and expensive railway station glass canopy". Architects Del Debbio and Aschieri were assigned this task: the former was responsible for the demolition of the glass canopy and the construction of a floor, in order to be able to obtain a further six exhibition rooms around a central hall on the floor below. Thus the architect followed the actual layout designed by Piacentini for the principal part of the building, though in a more limited way, reviving at the same time the mirror-like quality of the whole project. Aschieri (who was also responsible for mounting the second Quadrennial) set up the exhibition is such as way as to eliminate the monumental effect of the building, seeking a rational, sober and elegant sense of proportion, in which the works of art would have clear visibility and a clear background.

Commenting on the work on the building and on the mounting of the exhibition, architect Luigi Piccinato emphasized how Aschieri and Del Debbio had "restored life to the large halls of Via Nazionale. By proportioning rooms, arranging partitions, softening lighting, and reducing shadow, the vast array of paintings was organized and enhanced within a calm, simple, refined and restful setting. In the public spaces, that is the Vestibule, the Winter Garden, the stairs, and the corridors, where the neutral tone was no longer necessary, they were free to make architecture" (from the March 1931 edition of Domus magazine).The exhibition, which Mussolini termed "historic", received notable critical and public acclaim (with over 200,000 visitors) and the restoration work was widely appreciated, thus confirming the building’s definitive destination as the site of the Quadrennial.

One particularly significant episode in the activities of the exhibition during this period was the fascist revolution Exhibition, promoted by the national fascist party on the tenth anniversary of the march on Rome. The exhibition was inaugurated on 28 October 1932 and the preparation work was regularly submitted to the approval of the Duce, who defined it as the "sacred, impressive and solemn record" of the genesis, development and goals attained by fascism. Obviously, this exhibition was solely for propaganda and celebratory purposes, but it also represented a remarkable conception of an exhibition event. The catalogue states: "The monumental nature of this exhibition cannot but adopt a spectacular style of architecture, so to speak, designed to evoke the atmosphere of the times, all fire and fever, tumultuous, lyrical and brilliant." The words reveal a futurist climate that was undoubtedly reflected not only in many of the works of art on exhibit, but also in the layout of the exhibition, the result of a collaboration between artists (Nizzoli, Funi, Maccari, and especially Sironi) and architects (Terragni, Libera, and Valente), while the external facade, designed by De Renzi and Libera, in its formalism and in the explicitly ideological nature of the work (the 25 metre high metal "fasces") testified to a European-based architectural culture.

This exhibition was to have been moved to the Palazzo del Littorio for its permanent headquarters, but since this had not yet been built, it was kept at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni for a further two years, so that the second Quadriennale was organized to a very tight deadline and was inaugurated on 5 February 1935. Architects Aschieri and Montuori were responsible for mounting the exhibition; Piacentini’s facade was revealed once more, limited to a sober entrance door from the colonnaded porch. Inside, the facing of the central rotonda, the covering awnings, and the three gradations of grey on the display walls created a very striking, almost metaphysical, atmosphere, in which the 1,800 works of art were arranged, including paintings, sculptures and works in black and white. There were many personal exhibitions (including one dedicated to Scipione, who had died two years previously), with particular attention given to young artists and to different trends, from the late futurists to the abstractionists, who had their epicentre in Milan at the Galleria del Milione, and to more conservative trends. The Rome School of artists had an important presence, especially Mafai who had a room exhibiting 29 of his works and who was awarded a prize for his painting Lezione di piano (Piano Lessons).

In 1937, the Esposizione Nazionale Quadriennale d’Arte di Roma (Rome Quadrennial National Art Exhibition) was made an independent body by royal decree, with its own statute signed by the Minister for National Education, Giuseppe Bottai. The third exhibition, inaugurated on 5 February 1939, was therefore directly managed by the authority, under the supervision of the Minister of national education and the Minister for corporations, who, in compliance with the racial laws issued the previous year, required very strict inspection and documentation of the origins of each artist, with the compilation of individual files. It was a rather confused exhibition, compromised above all by very heavy political interference, reflecting what was anyway a situation of crisis in the artistic field. Architects Mario Paniconi and Giulio Pediconi were responsible for the mounting of the exhibition, taking particular care over the details, increasing the number of rooms and focusing especially on the clear visibility of the works of art, and on the restraint and general dignity of the environments. The exhibition of works by Giorgio Morandi and the section dedicated to paintings and futurist sculptures of aircraft are worthy of note. The fourth Quadriennale opened in May 1943, in the middle of the war, and was the last under the direction of Cipriano Efisio Oppo. It was a  greatly reduced exhibition (only some of the rooms were used), mounted by architect Ernesto Puppo and by engineer Alessandro Mangioni. The most significant aspects were the works by Enrico Prampolini and the futurist painters. The main prizes were awarded to Vagnetti and Manzù. At the end of the war, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni was occupied by food-rationing offices and the Ente Autonomo Quadriennale (Independent Quadrennial Authority) was placed under an administrator.

4. The post-war years and exhibitions during the 1950s and '60s

The post-war years saw a return to intense cultural activity in Rome. The exhibitions staged by the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, the many initiatives by private galleries, the formation of groups based around artistic trends, the clashes between devotees of abstract and figurative art - all of these elements contributed to creating the environment of fervent activity which made the Rome of the 1950s an international city and a destination for foreign artists.

The first Quadriennale after the war was organized in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, under the direction of the administrator, sculptor Francesco Coccia, since the Palazzo delle Esposizioni had been rendered virtually unusable by the various occupations.

After the Exhibition of the Reconstruction, held by the Ministry for Public Works in 1950, and the reassembly of the Ente Quadriennale (Quadrennial Authority) with Fortunato Bellonzi as general secretary, the restoration of the building began. The work of renovating the rooms and mounting the exhibition was assigned to engineer Giacomo Maccagno, an employee of Rome City Council, and architect Adolfo Bobbio, while Mario Bellina was responsible for the work on the bar and the reception rooms. The stucco and plaster work was renewed, the floors were renovated, the central rotonda was rescued, the building systems were renovated, the lamps were shaded with curtains, and the exhibition space was increased with the use of many mobile partitions, later used for other exhibitions. The Sixth Quadrennial was then inaugurated on 18 December 1951; there were several retrospectives, including one on Modigliani curated by Jean Cassou.

Two very important exhibitions also took place during the 1950s in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni: the exhibition on Seventeenth Century Europe held by the Council of Europe (November 1956 - February 1957), an exhibition that would not be possible today because of its size and the importance of the loans made to it by museums from all over the world; and the exhibition on Eighteenth Century Rome in 1959, which gathered together 2,600 works of art, including 600 paintings, as well as sculptures, gold artefacts, furniture and a great variety of other objects testifying to the cultural life of the period.

The exhibition on Mexican art from ancient times to the present day (October 1962 - January 1963) was another remarkable event: it provided a vast record ranging from the Pre-Christopher Columbus culture to Latin American Baroque, and continuing up to the works of contemporary artists housed on the upper floor of the building, including Rivera, Siqueiros, Orozco, Rufino Tamayo, and Frida Kahlo, as well as a collection of handcrafted artefacts. These exhibitions concluded an excellent cycle of exhibition activity which did not continue into the 1960s, when the activities of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni were reduced to a collection of pointless, very mediocre initiatives, with the exception of the Quadriennali (Quadrennial Exhibitions).

The Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Quadriennale took place during the ‘50s and ‘60s (1955, 1959, and 1965). The controversy between the abstractionists and the realists lay at the heart of the Seventh Quadrennial, with strongly contrasting critical positions. At the centre of the exhibition, an important nucleus of paintings and sculptures reconstructed the panorama of Italian art from 1910 to 1930. There were numerous retrospectives, including one on Savinio curated by Giorgio de Chirico, one dedicated to Atanasio Soldati curated by Nello Ponente as well as various others. This exhibition, which brought together about 3000 works of art including sculptures, paintings and works in black and white, was definitely considered by most people to be the best exhibition of the post-war years.

The Eighth Quadrennale took place from December 1959 to April 1960, mounted by architects Melis and Clerici. The central feature was an exhibition dedicated to the youthful Rome School from 1930 to 1945, curated by Giorgio Castelfranco and Emilio Lavagnino, while the commission responsible for the invitations was strongly contested by a large group of artists linked principally to abstract and informal exploration (including Vedova, Turcato, Leoncillo, Burri, Dorazio, Afro, Mastroianni etc.). The retrospectives dedicated to Balla, curated by Enzo Francia, Licini, curated by Giuseppe Marchiori, Prampolini, curated by Vittorio Orazi, and Spazzapan, curated by Fortunato Bellonzi and Renzo Romero, helped to restore some calm to the heated atmosphere.

The Ninth Quadriennale was inaugurated in the month of October 1965 and was set up by Mario Melis. There were many retrospective exhibitions for artists such as Morandi, Mafai, Sironi, Casorati, Donghi, Fortunato Depero, Romagnoni and Tancredi. The exhibition also included the latest trends in artistic research, ranging from the new situation in Rome, represented by Angeli, Festa, Ceroli, to kinetic art. Among the award-winners were Mirko, Alberto Viani, Turcato and Perilli.

5. From the Exhibitions in the 1970s to the Restoration

For over a decade the Palazzo delle Esposizioni was the venue for some of the most important exhibitions in Italy, implementing a policy of continuous use of its spaces and a programme that largely relied on the Rome City Council, apart from the five sections of the 10th Quadriennale that took place between December 1972 and July 1977.

The first highly significant initiative was the one devoted to the latest trends in art entitled The Vitality of the Negative in Italian Art 1960/1970, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva and the Incontri Internazionali d'Arte. The exhibit was not intended to be an ascetic reconstruction of the events of a decade, but an inquiry into how new poetics based on the vitality of the creative act had arisen at a time when traditional styles were being questioned and a great variety of new directions were being explored, no longer striving after absolute values: "Art ceases to be the zone where the forms and the exemplary nature of the artistic experience are hoarded; it is transformed into a dark region where nothing is certain." (Achille Bonito Oliva).

It was an extraordinary exhibit that brought together such resources as Roman artists' ventures into pop art as well as conceptual art, the happenings of the period and body art; along with the materials used by the minimalists, kinetic art, and the recent experiences with Arte Povera.

The 10th Quadriennale opened in November 1972 and was divided into five sections that were to document the different aspects of the Italian art scene: 1) Aspects of Contemporary Figurative Art - New Directions in Images; 2) The State of Abstract Art;  3) New Trends in Aesthetics from 1960 to 1970; 4) The New Generation; and 5) Foreign Artists Working in Italy. Alongside the artists invited to exhibit in each section, the first two sections also included a reconstruction of the historical backdrop to the trends examined: The Direction of Figurative Art in Italy from ‘Verismo' in the Late 19th Century until 1935, in the context of the figurative art section, and The Direction of Abstract Art in Italy from 1930 to 1965, coordinated by Nello Ponente, a reconstruction of abstract art in Italy.

Along with the exhibits on classical art (particularly memorable The Civilisation of Primitive Lazio in 1976), the policy of the Rome City Council in those years was to devote special attention to the most interesting features of 20th century culture, by means of both important retrospectives (the ones dedicated to Turcato in 1974, Man Ray in 1975 and Savinio in 1978) and investigations into the European avant-gardes, first with the exhibit Majakovsky Mejerch'old Stanislavsky (1975), mounted by Maurizio Di Puolo, who revisited the constructivist modules that projected out towards the outside of the building; then with the exhibit on the theatre in the Weimar Republic in 1978. These interdisciplinary exhibits harnessed the potential of the exhibition spaces, with performances, conferences, concerts and screenings, an example being the exhibit on the Polish avant-garde, during which Tadeusz Kantor previewed his show Ou sont les neiges d'antan.

Nicolini, the councillor then in charge of culture, thus described the essence of the exhibition policy in those years: "At the core of the programmes we created at the time were two important questions: the fate of the avant-garde and the intellectual's role in the 20th century. Naturally it was not a matter of adding ideologies and interpretations to those already in existence, but to document what was only partially understood."

These were the same ideas that were behind the exhibit Directions in Art in Italy from 1960 to 1980, curated by Nello Ponente, who held the chair of contemporary art at the University of Rome, and who died before the exhibit opened. This exhibit could boast a very wide-ranging documentation of what had taken place in Italy in the various fields of artistic endeavor: from the visual arts to photography, to musical composition, visual poetry, and auteur cinema.

The architecture exhibits reflected the desire to explore in-depth how contemporary cities were formed; they managed to make architecture, a field not always accessible to the public, intriguing and even spectacular: exhibits such as Function and Meaning: Architecture - Home-City in Holland, 1870-1940 (1979); Red Vienna: Residential Policy in Socialist Vienna (1919-1933), curated by Manfredo Tafuri in 1980; and Architecture in the Soviet Nation in 1982. When, however, parts of the stucco decoration crumbled during the exhibit Five Billion Years: A Blueprint for a Museum of Science, organised in collaboration with the University of Rome and mounted by Maurizio Sacripanti, in the wake of the damage it became clear that a very extensive renovation of the entire building could no longer be put off. The architect Costantino Dardi was assigned to the task.

Key elements of this project were: the reappropriation of original features of the building, freeing the spaces of all those dubious additions that had accumulated over the years; the return to the concept of natural lighting for the building from above; and the restoration of verticality to the design, by joining the building's three levels and those spaces even higher. This last entailed reopening the two interior staircases that provided access from the Via Milano level to the main floor; restoring the inside balconies that allowed visitors to perceive the spaces from above and vice versa; and finally, recreating that uninterrupted passage that was meant to connect the interiors from the access on Via Nazionale to the side facing Via Piacenza. A renovation with a critical eye, therefore, but one that had to transform a building erected according to 19th century canons into a facility that could easily meet the most modern requirements for exhibitions.

The construction work, which dragged on for years due to bureaucratic and financial hurdles, did not in fact realise the architect's design to the full, least of all in its most innovative features. Among these the plan for the roof, transparent and airy, including room for an outdoor theatre, was certainly one of the most fascinating parts of the project, yet the building commission rejected it twice. In the same way, the structures installed to replace the skylights, great ‘machines of light' which were to calibrate the natural light to artificial light by means of a system of moving window frames, were built without any way to regulate them automatically: rendering them useless.

There were many other features that distinguished this restyling (the geometric pattern in travertine and peperino on the floors, the restoration of the marmoridea on the walls, and other original decorative elements), but above all the creation of a multimedia hall and a small, perfectly equipped theatre for multidisciplinary activities that was original to the project, a Kunsthalle for Rome, suited to the most advanced needs of contemporary culture.

6. Activity During the 1990s: Towards Self-Management

The Palazzo delle Esposizioni reopened in 1990 with three exhibits that occupied all three levels of the facility: on the main floor Rome of the Tarquins, curated by the Rome City Council Fine Arts Office; on the first floor Peter Paul Rubens, and on the lower floor an exhibit dedicated to Mario Schifano. This was proof of the extraordinary range of exhibits that could be hosted by the Palazzo simultaneously, and also attested to its tendency to take on areas of classical and contemporary art at the same time. In 1990 a series of exhibits highlighting emerging young artists got underway, which would run to five editions.

Rome itself as a theme, in the analysis of its culture and history, was one of the most consistent trends of this decade and beyond. In the visual arts it was represented by the exhibit Rome in the 60s: Beyond Painting, and another entitled All Roads Lead to Rome, a particular tribute to the city in the fields of art, photography, cinema, graphics and poetry. The most significant moments in the city's history were also reconstructed for the exhibit Rome Under the Skies of '44: History, News and Culture from War to Liberation, which covered a dramatic chapter that was nevertheless culturally very much alive, as seen from the vantage point of fifty years later. In 2002 the exhibit Rome 1948-1959: Art, News in the Making and Culture from Neorealismo to the Dolce Vita made use of a rich selection of artworks, objects from the applied arts, and records, as well as an extraordinary number of photographs and film materials, to reconstruct one of the most intense periods in the city's history. Last but not least, in the field of archaeology, the exhibit Aurea Roma documented the Late Antique period in imperial Rome up to the advent of Christianity, with over 400 archaeological finds and works of exceptional beauty.

Important retrospectives of leading 20th-century Italian artists were also held at the Palazzo in these years, such as Giorgio de Chirico pictor optimus in 1992; Alberto Burri: Works from 1944 to 1955 in 1996; Enrico Prampolini: from Futurism to the Informal Style; and Fortunato Depero: from Futurismo to the House of Art in 1994 (the latter two anticipated the important exhibit Futurismo 1909-1944 held at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in 2001 in a collaboration with the Sprengel Museum in Hanover). Another significant event was the exhibit of Richard Long's works in 1994: eight installations expressly created by the artist for the Palazzo delle Esposizioni spaces.

It would be impossible to list all the exhibits held in the 90s, ranging from those dedicated to archaeology, such as Lysippus: His Art and Influence in 1995 and Ulysses: the Myth and the Memory in 1996, to the great masters (Tiziano: Sacred and Profane Love in 1995 and El Greco: Identity and Transformation in 1999; the exhibit on the works of Francesco Borromini in 1999, once again a theme centred around the city of Rome; and The Idea of Beauty: A Tour of 17th-century Rome with Giovan Pietro Bellori, a splendid exhibit on the classicist trend in 17th-century art and the ties to antiquity, mounted by architect Lucio Turchetta and curated by the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture. Lastly, two highly original exhibits in terms of their use of materials and communications: the ‘Studio azzurro' exhibit in 1999, which took over the Palazzo's six main halls for interactive multimedia installations; and Le Temps, an exhibit created by the Centre Pompidou in Paris, also making use of multimedia materials alongside works by contemporary artists.

With the 12th edition of the Quadriennale in 1992, the Agency for the Quadriennale made its return to the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (the preceding edition, during the restoration, had been held at the Palazzo dei Congressi in the EUR quarter). This new edition, entitled Profiles, was divided into several sections: the first devoted to only 33 artists representing different trends; the second inaugurated in September 1996 in two venues (the Palazzo delle Esposizioni and the Ala Mazzoniana at the Termini Station), both of them mounted by Massimiliano Fuksas. This 12th edition showcased the latest generation of artists, and its selection reflected, in this case as well, various critical stances. Finally, with Projections 2000: The Space for Visual Arts in a Multimedia Society, in 1999, the 13th edition of the Quadriennale, mounted by Enzo Serrani, attempted to record all trends then underway, in a sort of exhibit-cum-salon (as Lorenza Trucchi, then president of the Quadriennale Authority, declared at the time).

7. The Azienda Speciale Palaexpo: functions and programmes

With the setting up of the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo in 1998, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni assumed a leading role in the cultural activities organized by Rome City Council. It was the first organization on a national scale to be devoted exclusively to culture, with the visual arts predominating. The decision to set up the Azienda was determined by the need to develop a single space within the city area, both as regards its size and its multiple functions, with a kind of autonomy which would guarantee more agile management from the administrative point of view, and, above all, would enable the development and implementation of cultural programmes decided on by the organization.

The work carried out in the last few years has primarily taken into consideration the characteristics of the different spaces, diversifying them, and also the distances between them. Since there is no public reception area, access has been made available, without the need for a ticket, all along the central axis from the entrance to the rear wing where the services are located, (cafe, bookshop, and gift shop), reintroducing the horizontal connection that Piacentini had wanted "from the street to the inside and from the inside to the street", in an attempt to encourage an osmosis between the interior and exterior spaces. The decision to give the different areas a particular character depending on different types of exhibition activity, was of particular significance, and this idea has generally been maintained, where the size of the exhibitions did not require extra space. The monumental floor has been used to stage the large exhibitions of ancient, modern and contemporary art, referred to in the preceding chapter, often interdisciplinary in nature and with a great variety of material or works of art on display.

The upper floor has ideally been divided into two zones: the larger rooms have been used to stage mainly monographic exhibitions (those already mentioned as well as others) or those devoted to a precise central theme such as The face of Christ, organized for the Jubilee year 2000. The smaller rooms on the upper floor, often extended to cover the connecting link between the two parts of the building, have been used with remarkable continuity to stage photographic exhibitions. This has definitely been an innovative aspect in the activities of Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and it has provided a role model for Rome, since photography has now regained a leading role at an international level in the panorama of cultural initiatives and in the interest of the public. There has been a great variety of exhibitions, with personal exhibitions (the first large anthological exhibition by the great photographer Mario Giacomelli shortly before his death; Parigi+Klein; Francesca Woodman. Providence, Roma, New York; Gianni Berengo Gardin. Copyright; Herb Ritts, and many others), exhibitions on avant-garde and experimentation in photography and in relations with the world of art, such as the exhibition dedicated to Alfred Stieglitz and the photographers of Camera Work; and then the great photographers of the Magnum Agency and photo-reportage of decisive events in contemporary society: Magnum, witnesses and visionaries. 1989-1999 - the world through ten years of photography.

Another strongly innovative aspect in the activities of Azienda Speciale Palaexpo has been the allocation of an area devoted to current research in the field of art, often presenting other initiatives alongside the exhibitions, including theatrical shows, dance, musical events, and performances, in order to create a constant dialogue between the different creative languages. This activity has taken place in the areas below the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (which will be enlarged with the restoration work currently in progress), following two main project directions: the first, named Project rooms, was designed  to host exhibitions conceived around particular projects created specifically for that area. Having been inaugurated with an important work by American Sol Lewitt, who covered two rooms with large surfaces of colour, the activity continued over the next two years with a series of installations by already acclaimed or emerging artists, of which specific mention may be made of the work of Luca Vitone dedicated to the city of Genoa, and the work of Botto and Bruno consisting of a large photographic installation, or that of Ugo Rondinone who covered the central fountain and one wall with fragments of mirrors.

The other line of research was directed particularly at how the new technologies and means of mass communication have altered the world of art. Of these exhibitions, the most important was Zero Gravity. Art, technology and new areas of identity, with 13 international artists, which was devoted to these transformations that have been wrought by the new means of communication on the actual concept of art and on ways of working in art.

Finally, still on the theme of technology and widespread consumption, Play. The world of videogames, told the story of the evolution of this technology, presenting its most famous characters and all the fascination and attraction of the stories and images, while involving the public in direct participation. This exhibition brought the activities of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni to a conclusion so that the restoration work could begin.

8. The restoration project

The Palazzo delle Esposizioni restoration project had two fundamental aims: to requalify the spaces and update them both at a functional and technological level, and to marry the monumental architecture of the original building designed by Piacentini with innovative contemporary elements.
The result is a perfect harmony between the monumentality of the building and the contemporaneity of the architecture.

The restoration began in 2003, on the basis of an integrated tender. Architect Firouz Galdo developed the final project, while architect Paolo Desideri was responsible for the executive project. The latter also designed the Serra, the stunning new 2000sq m restaurant with a capacity of 250. Architect Michele De Lucchi was the artistic director of the project, and also designed the lighting, furnishings and signage.

The technological update consisted in the installation of a new climatization system that conforms with the international technical standards set by the museums who lend works; more sophisticated security measures for the works themselves and visitors; and the consolidation of the building’s static structures by architect Paolo Rocchi, which involved lengthy and complex analyses and considerable reinforcement.
The cost of the restoration and consolidation work amounted to a total of 28 million euros.

The functional restructuring of the Palazzo consisted in, among other things, the expansion of commercial spaces and the creation of the Cinema, Auditorium and Forum, all equipped with state-of-the-art technologies.
The spaces are arranged as follows: the main commercial activities are concentrated on the ground floor, beneath the main exhibition space, at the Via Milano level. These include a bookshop, a centre specializing in art and related merchandising, a café and educational areas. The exhibition spaces are located on the upper floors and cover over 3000sqm.

Firouz Galdo and Michele De Lucchi studied in depth the problem of creating a fine balance between the artworks and the imposing architecture of the Palazzo. To prevent the building from encroaching on the works and vice versa, the exhibition spaces have been equipped with a system of vertical display walls that cover the actual walls of the rooms and create an ideal neutral, uniform background. This both defines the display space and prevents temporary exhibitions from invading the historical building – the monument – while, at the same time, isolating the layout from the decoration of the Palazzo. Greater visual comfort is ensured by the mobile ceilings containing the light fittings, especially designed by Michele De Lucchi, which are versatile, unify all the spaces and supplement, where necessary, the daylight entering through the skylights.

To facilitate access to exhibitions, the building has been equipped with new lifts for the public and another for the staff and transporting works, which departs from the storerooms, customs’ and other offices, and bypasses the exhibition rooms.
A great effort has been made, also financially, to find solutions to all the problems related to standard museum systems: from air quality to the control of microclimatic conditions to protect the works and ensure visitor comfort. New anti-intrusion and firefighting systems have also been installed.

It is only on entering the Palazzo, however, that the visitor will fully appreciate the restyling, which, along with a diversified, multidisciplinary cultural offer, make it a place for people of all tastes to enjoy at any time. Ours is a quality offer with wide appeal, founded on international collaboration and establishing a dialogue between Italian culture and that of the rest of the world.
 
 

 
Preliminary and definitive project
Architect Firouz Galdo/ Azienda Speciale PALAEXPO

Artistic Direction
Architect Michele De Lucchi

Executive Project for the Palazzo
Architect Paolo Desideri / ABDR / SAC

Conservatory Project
Architect Paolo Desideri / ABDR / SAC

Implementation of works
SAC

Building reinforcement project
Architect Paolo Rocchi

Café Project
Architect Luca Braguglia

Bookshop Project 
Architect Firouz Galdo and architect Gabriele Pierluisi