EUR – Esposizione Universale Roma

EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma, occupies the southwestern sector of the city, between via Cristoforo Colombo and via Laurentina, in Municipio IX. The monumental heart revolves around piazza Guglielmo Marconi, viale della Civiltà del Lavoro and the Parco Centrale del Lago. The district is outdoors and free: you enter at any hour, on foot, for nothing, and what you might pay for is the individual places it contains. You get there by metro line B, which runs through it with three dedicated stations, EUR Magliana, EUR Palasport and EUR Fermi, plus Marconi on the northern edge and the terminus Laurentina. By car you go down via Cristoforo Colombo from the center, and surface parking on the side streets is more plentiful than in any rione inside the walls. The Museo delle Civiltà is at piazza Guglielmo Marconi 14, phone 06 549521. Check hours and fares on the museum's official site before leaving, because the calendar of its venues changes with the construction work under way. The Palazzo dei Congressi, the Palazzo dello Sport and the Nuvola open for events, conferences and concerts, with ticketing tied to the individual event. To get your bearings before leaving home, it's worth stopping by the page of tourist attractions in Rome.

What EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma, really is

EUR is not a monument and it's not a museum: it's a piece of city designed all at once, over about 400 hectares, to host a world's fair that was never held. It was born as E42, the abbreviation for the Universal Exposition of 1942, and the current name is the acronym of that project, which survived the event it was meant to celebrate. Anyone arriving here from the historic center feels a slight dizziness: the streets are twice as wide, the blocks enormous, the sidewalks empty, travertine everywhere. Rome changes grammar within 10 minutes of metro.

The difference between EUR and the other neighborhoods of Rome is that here order is not the result of centuries of stratification, but of a decision made at a table in 1935 and imposed on an almost empty countryside. The result is ambiguous by definition, and should be looked at with adult eyes: regime architecture, which the regime didn't make it in time to inaugurate, largely completed by the Republic in the years of reconstruction and then filled with ministries, banks and insurance companies. Our opinion is simple: EUR is the most instructive place in Rome for understanding Italy's twentieth century, and it's one of the least visited by foreign visitors. A mistake that works in favor of those who go.

The name also indicates a specific administrative entity, the urban planning zone 12A of Municipio IX, and a joint-stock company, EUR S.p.A., which owns and manages a good part of the district's real estate. The tourist perimeter, however, is wider than the cadastral perimeter: in common usage the strip of parks, sports facilities and conference venues that grows around it is also called EUR.

How to get to EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

By metro line B

Line B of the Rome metro cuts through EUR from north to south and remains the best way to get there. The three reference stations are EUR Magliana, EUR Palasport and EUR Fermi, to which are added Marconi, opened on April 26, 1994 when the trains returned to the original route after years of diversion onto the tracks of the Roma Lido, and the terminus Laurentina. The first three are the historic stations of the district: they entered service on February 10, 1955, the day after the inauguration of the first stretch of the metro, held on February 9 by the President of the Republic Luigi Einaudi, and back then they were called Magliana, Esposizione Ovest and Esposizione Est. The old names still appear in the lists of the original E42 buildings, and it's useful to know so you don't get confused reading the period sources.

Rule of thumb: for the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana and for the Museo delle Civiltà you get off at EUR Fermi or EUR Palasport. For the little lake and the Parco Centrale del Lago the right stop is EUR Palasport, which comes out about a hundred meters from the shore. For the Nuvola and the conference quadrant, EUR Magliana or EUR Fermi is better, depending on the entrance indicated by the event organizer.

By car, taxi and bicycle

Via Cristoforo Colombo, which until after the war was called via Imperiale, connects the center to EUR with a very wide roadway and few traffic lights. From the Colosseum, without traffic, it's about 20 minutes. The district has no limited traffic zone like the historic center, and this makes it one of the few parts of monumental Rome where arriving by car makes sense. If you cycle, you find a favorable layout, with straight avenues and limited elevation changes, and the Passeggiata del Giappone along the lake is one of the most pleasant cycling routes in the city.

On foot, inside the district

Distances in EUR deceive. On paper everything looks close, in reality from piazza Guglielmo Marconi to the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana you walk a good 10 minutes, and from the little lake to the basilica of Saints Peter and Paul you should count 15, with a final climb that weighs on you in August. A complete tour, without going into anywhere, takes two and a half hours at an easy pace. Comfortable shoes and a bottle of water: shade, in this district of open squares, is a rare commodity.

The original EUR project, Esposizione Universale Roma

1935: Bottai's idea and Mussolini's choice

In 1935 the governor of Rome Giuseppe Bottai proposed to Mussolini that the capital bid to host the world's fair of 1942. The date was not random: it fell exactly 20 years after the march on Rome, and a world's fair was, in the political culture of the time, the international stage par excellence. Paris, Chicago, Brussels had set the example. Rome wanted its showcase, and wanted it permanent: that was the choice that changed everything, because while other expositions took down their pavilions after six months, here it was decided to build in travertine and marble a district meant to stay.

The government backed the initiative by creating a dedicated autonomous body, the Ente Autonomo Esposizione Universale di Roma, established by the law of December 26, 1936, number 2174, and placed under the presidency of Senator Vittorio Cini, a Venetian industrialist used to handling large building sites. The body received substantial resources, expropriation powers and an administrative autonomy that, in different forms, has lasted to this day: the very EUR S.p.A. that manages the district is the direct descendant of that 1936 body, turned into a joint-stock company and today owned 90 percent by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and 10 percent by Roma Capitale.

Why the Tre Fontane in particular

The chosen area was that of the Tre Fontane, then countryside and vineyards south of the city. The reason was not logistical, it was symbolic: the aim was to ideally link imperial Rome, represented by the Baths of Caracalla, with the Tyrrhenian Sea, along the straight line of via Imperiale which today is called via Cristoforo Colombo. Rome was turning back toward the sea, as in the rhetoric of the time, and the new district was to be the third pole of expansion of the capital to the southwest. A little further on already stood the Tre Fontane Abbey, the monastic complex that gave its name to the whole area and which is still the oldest and quietest counterpart to the rationalist district.

There was a considerable technical obstacle: the southern area was outside the 1931 Master Plan. It was necessary to adopt special rules, and a commission approved the project through a series of executive detailed plans. The governorate had enormous funds for the expropriations of the roughly 400 hectares and for the construction of the buildings. The general project, revised several times, was finalized only in 1938.

Piacentini and the team of architects

Cini gathered the best of Italian architecture of the time, putting together names that elsewhere fought each other: Giuseppe Pagano, Luigi Piccinato, Luigi Vietti, Adalberto Libera, Gaetano Minnucci, Ernesto Lapadula, Mario Romano, Luigi Moretti. Above them all, the technical coordination of Marcello Piacentini, the architect the regime preferred for his essentialized classicism, able to reconcile columns and reinforced concrete.

The compromise that came out of it is the hallmark of EUR: an orthogonal plan of Roman derivation, monumental axes, squared and massive buildings, light cladding of travertine and marble, with the techniques of Italian rationalism inside. Anyone looking for pure rationalism at EUR is disappointed, and so is anyone looking for neoclassicism. It's a hybrid, and it's precisely the hybrid that makes it interesting. A clear opinion: here the architecture shouldn't be judged beautiful or ugly, it should be read as a political document built in stone, and as such it still works very well.

April 26, 1937: Mussolini's pine

Work began on April 26, 1937, with a ceremony in which Mussolini planted a Roman pine on the land set aside for the new district. The gesture, as theatrical as you like, marks the actual start date of the biggest building site Rome saw in the twentieth century. In the following two years the district took shape at an impressive speed, with thousands of workers, a service railway and a workers' village built specifically to house the labor force.

Why the Universal Exposition of 1942 was never held

There are three reasons, and all of them should be told. The first is the delay of the works: the main project was defined only in 1938 and some buildings were just laid out when they should have been finished. The second is the sudden death of Governor Piero Colonna, which deprived the site of its Roman political direction. The third, decisive, is the preparation for Italy's participation in the Second World War, which diverted materials, labor and money toward other fronts. In 1942 the work was halted.

The bill was heavy. Most of the works remained unfinished. Some, like the theater planned on piazza Imperiale, were never even begun. The exposition did not open, and for a few years E42 was an enormous urban skeleton in the middle of the countryside, with buildings without window frames, streets laid out and no inhabitants. Yet that failed enterprise left as an inheritance a system of works and services, from sewers to roads to pipelines, that after the war would allow the birth of a real district.

The war at EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

In 1944 the territory of EUR was occupied by the German armed forces moving up toward Rome from the sea, and served as a billeting site for troops. The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana was turned into a repair workshop. The workers' village became a barracks. The buildings were systematically emptied: from the official restaurant the entire equipment was taken away to outfit the German military canteens, and what remained in the workers' village was carried off by civilians.

When the Germans began their retreat, abandoning Rome, on June 2, 1944, the Allies took over at EUR. Then the district remained empty and uninhabitable. Of the E42 enterprise, after the war only ruins and unbuilt spaces remained, disconnected from the city. It's the lowest point in the history of this place, and it's worth keeping in mind while you walk among the well-kept lawns of the Parco Centrale del Lago: 80 years ago here it was all ruin and scrub.

The rebirth of the 1950s at EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

From the early 1950s EUR became the exemplary case of Italy's postwar reconstruction, and one of the engines of the country's economic and social recovery. The insight was to turn the defect into an advantage: green space, Rome's great shortage, would become EUR's specialty. A park district, in short, whose urban qualities however had to be strengthened, because until then there were buildings and no city.

Alongside residential construction, work began on completing the historic buildings left half done. Completed were the Palazzo degli Uffici, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the church of Saints Peter and Paul, the Palazzo dei Congressi, part of the complex of the Esedre, today piazza delle Nazioni Unite, part of the former piazza Imperiale, today piazza Guglielmo Marconi, part of the Armed Forces building, later intended as the seat of the Archivio centrale dello Stato, and the former Official Restaurant, which today houses a bar and offices of Roma Capitale. The roads were completed and the park areas were laid out.

In the buildings facing piazza Guglielmo Marconi the museums settled: the Museo della Civiltà Romana, the Museo delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, the Museo Preistorico Etnografico Pigorini and the Museo dell'Alto Medioevo. This is the birth of the EUR museum hub, which today has merged almost entirely into the Museum of Civilizations.

From 1955 the transfer to EUR of the ministries of finance, health, communications, foreign trade and the merchant navy was planned. Eni, INPS, Alitalia, Esso, the Immobiliare, SIAE and ICE arrived. In a few years a ghost district became the district of offices, and the transformation was so rapid that even today EUR's social structure bears the mark of that choice: in the morning it fills with office workers, on Sunday it fills with families, and in between there remains a calm that doesn't exist in the center of Rome.

The 1960 Olympics and the takeoff of EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

The Games of the XVII Olympiad, held in Rome from August 25 to September 11, 1960, are the real watershed in the public life of this district. The so-called Southern Olympic Center gathered the EUR facilities and those immediately nearby: the Palazzo dello Sport, the Piscina delle Rose, the Velodromo Olimpico. Within two years EUR went from being a reconstruction site to being the modern face that Italy showed the world on television.

The images of the 1960 Olympics did for EUR what the exposition that never took place had not been able to do: they delivered it to the international imagination. From then on, and for all the 1960s, the district was synonymous with Italian modernity. With the end of that decade the first long evolutionary cycle of EUR closes, the one that coincides with the postwar recovery and with its relaunch as a public institution of recognized central function.

Of the Olympic Velodrome, a work of the 1960s, nothing remains today: it was demolished, and anyone looking for it on the map will not find it. It is worth knowing before you leave, to avoid a walk for nothing. The Palazzo dello Sport, on the other hand, still functions, and is today the largest covered arena of the capital.

The original buildings of E42, the historic core of EUR

The list of works planned and partly built from the original project is the best map for understanding what you are looking at. Many have changed name and function, some were never built, others exist but cannot be visited.

• Via Imperiale, today Via Cristoforo Colombo, the axis toward the sea.
• The Central Lake Park, with the EUR lake.
• The subway stops Esposizione Ovest and Esposizione Est, today EUR Palasport and EUR Fermi.
• The INA and INPS buildings, at the ends of Piazza delle Nazioni Unite.
• The Palazzo degli Uffici, historic seat of the body.
• The Official Restaurant, today a bar and municipal offices.
• The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the so-called Square Colosseum.
• The Palazzo dei Ricevimenti e dei Congressi.
• The Imperial Gate and the Imperial Square, today Piazza Guglielmo Marconi.
• The Marconi Obelisk, at the center of the square.
• The Palace of Ancient Art.
• The Palace of Modern Art.
• The Palace of Sciences, today one of the sites of the Museo delle Civiltà.
• The Palace of Folk Arts and Traditions.
• The Cinema Teatro Imperiale.
• The Postal Building, of the Poste Telegrafi e Telefoni.
• The Palace of the Armed Forces, today the Archivio centrale dello Stato.
• The building for the Exhibition of Romanity, later the Museo della Civiltà Romana.
• The church of Saints Peter and Paul.
• The Sea Gate, toward the south.
• The Palace of Water and Light.
• The Workers' Village.
• The Central Institute of Human Reclamation, Orthogenesis and Naturist Therapy, later Sant'Eugenio hospital.

A piece of advice: do not try to see them all at once. They are a list to read, not an itinerary to walk. Pick five or six, the ones that can really be visited, and walk at an easy pace.

The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the symbol of EUR

The competition was won in 1937 by Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Lapadula and Mario Romano. The construction site opened in July 1938 and the building was opened still unfinished in 1940, to be completed after the war. The facade has 54 arches per front, arranged in nine rows in line and six in column, and it is this very regular grid that earned it the nickname Square Colosseum. The height is 60 meters, the base side measures 53 meters, and on the front toward the railway the stepped base reaches 18 meters.

Under the arches of the ground floor are placed 28 allegorical statues of the virtues and activities of Italy, from heroism to music, from craftsmanship to philosophy, from commerce to industry to medicine. At the four corners of the base stand guard the equestrian groups of the Dioscuri, the work of Publio Morbiducci and Alberto Felci. The inscription that runs along the travertine, a people of poets of artists of heroes of saints of thinkers of scientists of navigators of transmigrators, derives from the speech given by Mussolini on October 2, 1935.

Since July 2013 the building has been leased to the maison Fendi, which has its headquarters there and maintains an exhibition space open to the public there. The complete story, with the detailed architectural reading and the information on the visit, is on the page dedicated to the Square Colosseum: here it is enough to say that it is the most photographed building in the district and that the best light hits it in late afternoon, when the travertine turns ochre.

The Palazzo dei Congressi by Adalberto Libera

If the Square Colosseum is the manifesto of EUR, the Palazzo dei Ricevimenti e dei Congressi is its true architectural masterpiece. Adalberto Libera designed it in the second half of the 1930s, construction started in 1938 and ended only in 1954, with the long interruption of the war in the middle. The layout has an almost mathematical clarity: a cube 45 meters on a side that defines a free interior volume.

The reception hall is covered by a lowered groin vault supported by two Vierendeel-type metal lattice beams, arranged diagonally and crossed at 90 degrees. Above runs a framework of metal beams and secondary beams with a Perret-type floor slab, clad in copper. The whole reinforced concrete structure is masked by the travertine cladding that gives it the monumental character demanded by the regime's directives. It's a double building, in short: rationalist inside, imperial outside.

Inside are kept an allegorical fresco by Achille Funi with Rome triumphant on the wall of the atrium and a painting on masonite by Gino Severini with pastoral scenes, made during the postwar completion work. During the 1960 Olympics the building hosted the fencing competitions. Between 2002 and 2016 the publishing fair Più libri più liberi was held there. Today it hosts conferences, exhibitions, seminars and cultural events, and you visit it when it's open for an event: the page of the Palazzo dei Congressi collects the calendar and practical information.

The basilica of Saints Peter and Paul at EUR

On the rise of via Cristoforo Colombo, dominating the entire district, the basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is proof that sacred architecture too was part of the E42 program. The design was entrusted to the architects Arnaldo Foschini, Alfredo Energici, Vittorio Grassi, Nello Ena, Tullio Rossi and Costantino Vetriani. The project was approved in September 1938 and work began in April 1939, then resumed in 1953 after the wartime interruption.

The church was opened for worship in July 1955, received parish status in December 1958 and was elevated to minor basilica in 1967, after the dedication celebrated by Cardinal Franjo Šeper in June 1966. The plan is a Greek cross. The hemispherical dome has a diameter of 32 meters, which places it fourth among the domes of Rome after those of the Pantheon, Saint Peter's in the Vatican and San Giovanni Bosco. Almost nobody knows that fact, and it justifies the climb on its own.

Under the portico, on either side of the entrance, are placed the large statues of Saints Peter and Paul. Inside, the Christ triumphant above the high altar and the mosaic of the Madonna with angels in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception stand out. The pipe organ was built in 1960 by Libero Rino Pinchi and enlarged in 1990. A monumental staircase connects the basilica to viale Europa, and it's the recommended walk: you climb from below, slowly, and the dome grows before your eyes. More details and hours on the page of Saints Peter and Paul.

The Palazzo degli Uffici, the first finished building of E42

Gaetano Minnucci received the commission on October 25, 1937, under the supervision of Marcello Piacentini and with the direction of works entrusted to Pietro Ferri. The building was completed in 1939 and was the first building in the district to be finished. It was born as the seat of the body that was building the exposition, that is as the building site of the building site.

It's worth a stop even just from outside, because it concentrates a remarkable decorative repertoire: the fountain with 18 basins lined with two-tone marbles, the decorative panels by Gino Severini, Giulio Rosso and Giovanni Guerrini, the reliefs by Publio Morbiducci with the history of Roman building, the frescoes by Giorgio Quaroni with the founding of Rome and the sculptural groups by Dino Basaldella. It's the building where you best see how the machine of the applied arts in service of regime architecture worked: nothing is left to chance, every surface tells something.

The Marconi Obelisk in piazza Guglielmo Marconi

At the center of the square that was Piazza Imperiale rises the obelisk dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi, a work by the Carrara sculptor Arturo Dazzi. It was commissioned in 1939 and the work stopped in 1940 with Italy's entry into the war, to resume only in 1951. The work was finished and inaugurated on December 12, 1959. The structure is in reinforced concrete clad with 92 slabs of Carrara marble, carved in high relief on four superimposed rows.

Look at it up close, because it's a monument that does badly from a distance and very well up close: from afar it looks like any white spire, from underneath you can read the scenes dedicated to scientific progress and to the figure of Marconi, and you understand how much chisel work is inside it. If I had to point to the most underrated monument of EUR, I'd point to this one without hesitation.

The little lake and the Parco Centrale del Lago at EUR

Numbers and design of the Parco Centrale del Lago

The park covers about 160,000 square meters, divided roughly in half between green space and water surface. The original design dates to 1937 and bears the signatures of Raffaele De Vico and Marcello Piacentini. The executive working group, under De Vico's consultancy, was formed in 1939, then the war stopped everything. The park was really built only after the war, still under De Vico's guidance and with the engineer Giorgio Biuso, and took its present form between the 1950s and 1960s.

The artificial basin is about a kilometer long and from a minimum of 60 to a maximum of 130 meters wide, with depths ranging from two to four meters and a surface of more than 80,000 square meters. It's not just any ornamental pond: it's one of the largest water works built in Rome since antiquity, and the scale is perceived only by walking around it, which takes about 40 minutes.

The waterfall under the Palazzo dello Sport

From the side of the hill, under the Palazzo dello Sport, a waterfall feeds the lake. It's not a scenic whim: it also serves to oxygenate the water and to supply the fire-fighting system. It's the point of the park not to miss when time is short, because in a single frame you see the water, the greenery and the dome of the arena.

The Japanese cherry trees and the Passeggiata del Giappone

In July 1959 the Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi donated to Rome 2,500 flowering cherry trees, prunus serrulata, and a substantial part was planted right here. From that gift comes the Passeggiata del Giappone, the pedestrian and cycling path that runs along the lake. The bloom, between late March and early April depending on the year, is one of the most beautiful natural spectacles in Rome and remains incredibly little visited by foreign tourists: on good days, Romans know it and arrive early. Go early in the morning on a weekday, not on Sunday afternoon.

The page of the EUR lake collects the details on routes, boat rental and the activities that take place along the shores. A little further on, the EUR Social Park has become in recent years the hub of the district's summer events.

The Palazzo dello Sport of EUR, Nervi and Piacentini

Designed in 1956 by Marcello Piacentini for the architectural part and by Pier Luigi Nervi for the structural part, the Palazzo dello Sport was built between 1958 and 1960 for the Games. The building is circular, with a maximum diameter just under a hundred meters, and holds about 12,000 spectators on two rings of stands.

The fact that leaves open-mouthed anyone with even a minimum familiarity with engineering is the thickness of the spherical concrete shell: nine centimeters. Nine. Over a span of those dimensions. It's Nervi at his best, and the continuous glazing that wraps the perimeter serves precisely to make that very thin dome visually float, giving the building its cylindrical look.

During the 1960 Olympics it hosted the basketball and boxing competitions. Then the long season of concerts: the building has changed its commercial name several times, it was PalaEUR in common speech and PalaLottomatica from 1999 to 2018, after a renovation tied to the sponsorship. Today it is one of the two Italian multipurpose arenas of the European Arenas Association, hosts a women's volleyball team of Serie A1 and continues to be the venue of the big indoor concerts in Rome. Calendar and information on the page of the Palazzo dello Sport.

Fuksas's Nuvola, the contemporary face of EUR

The Roma Convention Center, which everyone calls the Nuvola, is the project by Massimiliano Fuksas inaugurated in 2016 at viale Asia 25. It's the building that put EUR back on the maps of international architecture after half a century of silence, and it has a three-part structure that's worth telling apart when you look at it from the street.

The first is the teca, the display case: a parallelepiped 40 meters high in glass and travertine, which cites the district's historic material and makes it transparent. The second is the cloud proper, the suspended volume in steel clad in siliconized fiberglass that contains the main auditorium, with 1,748 seats, 1,236 in the stalls and 512 in the gallery. The third is the blade, the 55-meter tower that houses a four-star hotel with 439 rooms.

The overall numbers say more than 26,000 square meters of usable area inside a complex that exceeds 55,000. Level minus one offers 9,000 square meters of modular rooms, up to 39 spaces for 12 to 500 people each and a plenary configuration of 4,780 seats. The forum level makes available 7,300 square meters for 4,000 people. Around the auditorium open three foyers of 1,500, 500 and 500 square meters.

A clear opinion, and not everyone's: the Nuvola works better in the evening than in the day. With the interior lighting on, the suspended shell really reads as a floating mass inside the teca. At noon the reflection on the glass swallows it. The district has an unwritten rule: rationalism takes the morning light, the contemporary takes the light of the night. Details and calendar on the page of the Fuksas Nuvola.

The museums of EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

The Museo delle Civiltà in piazza Guglielmo Marconi

Established in 2016 by ministerial decree, the Museo delle Civiltà brought together in a single institute with special autonomy four national museums that had already existed at EUR for decades: the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini, the Museo dell'Alto Medioevo, the Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale Giuseppe Tucci and the Museo Nazionale delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, whose collection bears the name of Lamberto Loria. Since 2011 the collections of the former Museo Africano have also merged into it.

The main venue is at piazza Guglielmo Marconi 14, phone 06 549521, and occupies two E42 buildings: the Palazzo delle Scienze, which houses the prehistoric, ethnographic, early medieval and Oriental sections, and the Palazzo delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari, inaugurated in 1956, where the Loria collection is housed. The direction is entrusted to Andrea Viliani. Hours, closing days and fares change with the re-installation work under way and should be checked on the museum's official site before setting out.

The practical advice is not to treat it as a single museum to see in two hours, because it isn't one: it's four museums in two buildings, and time runs out fast. If you have half a day, choose one section. The pages dedicated to the Pigorini Prehistoric Museum and to the Lamberto Loria Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions help you decide beforehand.

The Museo della Civiltà Romana and the model of imperial Rome

It's the open wound of the district. The Museo della Civiltà Romana, municipally owned, closed to the public on January 31, 2014 after a 2013 inspection by the Ministry of Labor that had found irregularities and required adaptation and compliance work on the building. It has been closed since then, and the restoration project, funded with about €20,700,000 from the national recovery plan, has gone through several programming phases.

Inside there is, still and packed away, one of the most extraordinary pieces Rome possesses: the model of imperial Rome, made in alabaster plaster at a scale of 1 to 250, with a surface of more than 250 square meters, conceived by the archaeologist Italo Gismondi and executed by the craftsman Pierino Di Carlo. It represents the city in the era of Constantine, in the fourth century. Next to it, the gallery of full casts of Trajan's Column, arranged on four parallel rows, which lets you read up close the roughly 2,500 figures of the relief, something impossible in front of the original at the Trajan's Markets. If there's one closed museum in Rome that deserves to reopen more than any other, it's this one.

The Luneur, the historic amusement park of EUR

Luneur is the oldest amusement park in Italy. It opened in 1953 for the International Agriculture Fair, took its name from the neighborhood, and settled on an area of 68,000 square meters along Via delle Tre Fontane. Among its founders were traveling show operators such as Adalberto Mirabito and Antonio Frezzato. Its golden age was around the turn from the 1980s to the 1990s, after which the park stopped renewing itself and lost visitors.

It closed on April 19, 2008, after a tender launched by EUR S.p.A. to modernize the park. Cinecittà Entertainment won the bid in February 2008, but work only began in January 2016 because of a dispute with the previous management. On October 27, 2016, Luneur reopened completely renovated, with about 25 attractions designed for children from zero to 12 years old and for families, after an investment of about 21 million euros. The historic Ferris wheel started turning again on December 27, 2016. Hours and rates should be checked on the park's official website, because the seasonality is strong.

EUR today, the neighborhood of offices and banks

In recent decades EUR has taken on a residential and commercial role at the same time, helped by its off-center position and its proximity to major transport infrastructure. It hosts headquarters or branch offices of public bodies, from the ministries of economic development, health, and infrastructure and transport to ICE, SIAE, INAIL, and INPS, and of private companies: Confindustria, UniCredit, Poste italiane, Eni, Q8, Procter and Gamble, Engineering, Microsoft, Unilever, Accenture, Bristol-Myers.

In October 2004 the neighborhood hosted the intergovernmental conference of the European Union, and in October 2021 the G20 summit, at the Nuvola. Today EUR is the most important financial and services hub of the capital and one of the largest in Italy, with banks, public and private offices, and a cluster of museums, and it is the most economically active area of Rome. The real estate managed by EUR S.p.A. is worth about 738 million euros and includes more than 70 hectares of parks and gardens, five of them main ones, among them the Parco Centrale del Lago and the Giardino degli Ulivi. In 2025 the neighborhood recorded over a million and a half visits for congresses, conferences, concerts, and sporting events.

Anyone who arrives at EUR expecting a tourist neighborhood is very much mistaken: it's a working neighborhood with monuments inside it. And that's exactly why it's best visited on the weekend, when the parking lots empty out and the squares are left to the Romans.

EUR at the movies

No neighborhood in Rome has lent its geometries to cinema as much as this one. The most famous case is L'eclisse by Michelangelo Antonioni, shot in 1961 and released in 1962, with Monica Vitti, Alain Delon, and Francisco Rabal: the cold, geometric architecture of EUR becomes the very substance of the film, the visual correlative of the lack of communication between the protagonists. The last 10 minutes, silent and without characters, replace the actors with the inert objects and metaphysical architecture of the neighborhood, and end on a street lit by the glow of a streetlamp.

I recommend watching that finale before you come, and then looking for the same shots in person. It works: 60 years later, many corners have stayed identical. It's the best way I know to make a group understand why EUR is not just any neighborhood.

EUR with kids

The neighborhood is generous with families, much more than the historic center. Luneur is designed for ages zero to 12 and is the only amusement park inside Rome. The Parco Centrale del Lago offers lawns, shade, and space to run around without cars nearby. The Museo delle Civiltà, in its prehistoric and ethnographic sections, works well with kids from age eight up. Distances are easy to cover with strollers, because the sidewalks are wide and there are no sampietrini.

The only serious warning concerns summer. Between June and September the squares of EUR turn into ovens: travertine, asphalt, and no shelter. With small children, from July to August, you go out before 10 in the morning or after six in the evening, and in between you stay in the shade of the park.

Accessibility of EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

The neighborhood is flat in its central part, with wide sidewalks and regular crossings: for those who get around in a wheelchair it's among the most practicable monumental areas of Rome. There are two exceptions, and you need to factor them in. The first is the monumental staircase that climbs to the basilica of Santi Pietro e Paolo, which can be bypassed by the vehicle road with a longer detour. The second is the change in level between the Palazzo dello Sport and the lake, served by the waterfall and by ramps that aren't always comfortable. The stations of metro line B are not all equipped the same way: elevator availability should be checked the same day on the public transport operator's channels.

Frequently asked questions about EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

How much does it cost to visit EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma?

EUR is a public neighborhood and walking around inside it costs nothing: the squares, the avenues, the Parco Centrale del Lago, and the exterior view of the monumental buildings are free and accessible at any hour. You only pay for admission to individual places, such as the Museo delle Civiltà or Luneur, and for tickets to events hosted at the Palazzo dello Sport or the Palazzo dei Congressi.

How do you get to EUR by public transport?

You get to EUR on line B of the Rome metro, which cuts through the neighborhood from north to south and remains the best way to reach it. The reference stations are EUR Magliana, EUR Palasport, and EUR Fermi, plus Marconi and the Laurentina terminus: the first three are the useful ones for the monumental buildings of the historic core.

Is the Museo della Civiltà Romana at EUR still open?

No, the Museo della Civiltà Romana at EUR, with its famous model of imperial Rome, closed on January 31, 2014, and has not reopened since. Many printed guides still mention it as active, so it's worth checking its status before planning the visit, to avoid ending up in front of a closed building.

What is the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, the Square Colosseum of EUR?

The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana is the symbol building of EUR, nicknamed the Square Colosseum for its facade with 54 arches per side, arranged in nine rows across and six in a column. It was won in the 1937 competition by Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Lapadula, and Mario Romano, with the construction site opened in July 1938 and an opening, still unfinished, in 1940.

Is EUR suitable for a visit with kids?

Yes, EUR is a neighborhood that is generous with families, more so than the historic center of Rome. Luneur, designed for ages zero to 12, is the only amusement park inside Rome. The Parco Centrale del Lago offers lawns and space to run around without cars. The Museo delle Civiltà works well with kids from age eight up.

Is EUR accessible for wheelchair users?

Yes, the central part of EUR is flat, with wide sidewalks and regular crossings, and it's among the most practicable monumental areas of Rome for wheelchair users. The exceptions are the monumental staircase that climbs to the basilica of Santi Pietro e Paolo, which can be bypassed with a longer detour by the vehicle road, and a change in level noted in the area of the Palazzo dello Sport.

What is the best time to visit EUR?

The best season to visit EUR is spring, between the end of March and mid-May, when the cherry trees of the Parco Centrale del Lago bloom. A second recommended time is October, with the low light that brings out the travertine of the buildings, while summer is more pleasant in the evening.

Why was the 1942 World's Fair in Rome never held?

The 1942 World's Fair, which gives EUR its name, was not held for three concurrent reasons: the delay in the works, with the main project defined only in 1938, the sudden death of governor Piero Colonna, which deprived the construction site of its political direction, and Italy's entry into the Second World War.

When to go to EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

The best season is spring, between the end of March and mid-May, when the cherry trees of the Parco Centrale del Lago bloom and the neighborhood fills with Romans. The second good time is October, with the low light that lights up the travertine. Summer is harsh during the day and pleasant only in the evening, when the outdoor events liven up the parks. Winter has an advantage few people consider: the empty squares and clear sky give the architecture back its metaphysical quality, and it's the period when photographs turn out best.

On the day of the week, a firm and contrarian opinion: come on a Saturday morning. On Sunday the park is very crowded and the museums have lines. On weekdays the neighborhood is invaded by cars and office workers. Saturday morning is the perfect window, especially for small groups. Anyone organizing a custom guided visit for a group or a company will find professional assistance on the TourLeaderPro site dedicated to tourist accompaniment.

What's around EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

The neighborhood is not an island. Going up Via Ostiense toward the center, you come to the basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura, the second largest in Rome after St. Peter's, reachable on the same line B in a few minutes. A little further on, still on line B, are the Pyramid of Cestius and the Testaccio neighborhood. In the opposite direction, toward the sea, the train to the Lido takes you to the excavations of Ostia Antica, which shares with EUR the ideal axis toward the Tyrrhenian Sea imagined in 1937.

A few hundred meters from the neighborhood, the Abbey of Tre Fontane preserves monastic silence and the three sanctuaries tied to the tradition of the martyrdom of Saint Paul. It's the strongest contrast Rome can offer within a 10-minute walk, and I recommend it to anyone with half a day. Anyone planning a trip to Rome from scratch will find a reasoned three-day itinerary in the English-language ItalyPlanner guide.

A curiosity about EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

The curiosity almost nobody knows is about water. The EUR lake looks like the classic ornamental pond of a city park, but it's actually a hydraulic work with precise technical functions: the waterfall that comes down the hill beneath the Palazzo dello Sport is not only there for show, but to oxygenate the water of the basin and to feed the neighborhood's fire-fighting system. An artificial lake about one kilometer long, 60 to 130 meters wide, 2 to 4 meters deep, with a surface of more than 80,000 square meters, is not built to look pretty: it's built because it serves a purpose.

There's a second curiosity, and it's even less known. The 2,500 Japanese cherry trees that bloom along the Passeggiata del Giappone were not the idea of a municipal gardener: they come from a diplomatic gift. In July 1959 Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi gave them to the city of Rome, and a considerable part was planted right around the lake. The result is that the neighborhood built to celebrate the Italian empire now hosts the most beautiful hanami in Rome, with the bloom between the end of March and the beginning of April filling the banks with people carrying cameras.

The third is for those who like technical details: when you look at the Obelisco di Marconi you think of a monolith. It is nothing of the kind. It's a reinforced concrete structure clad with 92 slabs of Carrara marble, carved in high relief on four rows. A composite obelisk, assembled piece by piece between 1939 and 1959, with a 20-year interruption in the middle. Few works tell the interrupted and resumed story of EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma, better.

One thing nobody tells you about EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

That an important part of what you come to see is closed, and has been for more than 10 years. The Museo della Civiltà Romana, with its 1 to 250 scale model of imperial Rome and the gallery of casts of Trajan's Column, closed on January 31, 2014, and has not reopened since. Many printed guides still mention it as active, and many people arrive in front of the building and find a barred door. Before coming all the way here for that reason, it's worth checking on the official channels of the City of Rome the status of the renovation works, financed with about 20.7 million euros from the national recovery plan.

The corollary, just as rarely said, concerns the other buildings. At EUR almost all the monumental buildings are headquarters of agencies, ministries, banks, or companies: you look at them from outside and you don't visit them. The Palazzo degli Uffici, the Archivio centrale dello Stato, and the INA and INPS buildings have no ticket office, and won't have one. The Palazzo dei Congressi, the Palazzo dello Sport, and the Nuvola open only for events: without a congress or a concert going on, they remain closed boxes. Even the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana is currently leased to a fashion house, which keeps an exhibition space there open to the public but does not turn the building into a museum.

Translated into practice: EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma, is visited above all by walking, not by going inside. Anyone who arrives with a list of museums to tick off is disappointed. Anyone who arrives with the idea of reading a city takes home the best day of their trip to Rome. Here the exterior is the monument.

The advice I give you for visiting EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

There is one piece of advice and it's worth more than all the others put together: get off at EUR Fermi and walk north, not the other way around. The reason is light and effort. Starting from EUR Fermi you cross Piazza Guglielmo Marconi with Arturo Dazzi's obelisk in the middle, take Viale della Civiltà del Lavoro, and arrive at the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana with the sun at your back in the first half of the day. Then you go down toward the Parco Centrale del Lago, which is the restful part, and you end at the lake when your legs start asking for a bench. The reverse route, with the final climb to the Square Colosseum after three hours of walking, is not recommended.

Second piece of advice, on time: give EUR a full half day, not two hours. Distances are deceiving, and anyone who arrives with 90 minutes in their pocket sees three buildings and leaves convinced the neighborhood is boring. It isn't: it's slow. Third piece of advice, on shoes and water, which seem like trivialities and aren't in a neighborhood without porticoes, without shade, and with few drinking fountains.

Fourth, and maybe the most useful: check the events calendar before you come. A concert at the Palazzo dello Sport or a congress at the Nuvola completely changes the day, for the better if you want to see the interiors, for the worse if you're looking for silence, because the squares and parking lots fill up. Last, for those with a serious camera: bring a wide-angle lens. The buildings of EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma, are big and the squares don't let you step back far enough with a telephoto lens. Anyone planning the trip with family or a small group will find a good starting point among the 30 best things to do in Rome in the ItalyPlanner guide.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

Almost everyone knows that EUR was born as the site of a world's fair that was never held. What is rarely mentioned is the urban planning consequence of that failure: precisely because the fair was not held, the neighborhood was never dismantled. The world's fairs of the twentieth century were designed to be ephemeral, with temporary pavilions that disappeared once the show closed. Here the opposite happened. The decision to build permanent buildings in travertine and marble, taken for propaganda reasons, left the republican Rome a building stock already in place at the exact moment the city desperately needed it.

The second rarely mentioned fact concerns the dates. People always say EUR is from the 1930s, and that's only half true. The Palazzo degli Uffici was completed in 1939, but the Palazzo dei Congressi was finished in 1954, the basilica of Santi Pietro e Paolo was opened for worship in July 1955, the Obelisco di Marconi was inaugurated on December 12, 1959, the Palazzo dello Sport was built between 1958 and 1960, the Palazzo delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari was inaugurated in 1956, and the Parco Centrale del Lago took shape between the 1950s and 1960s. More than half of EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma, is the work of the Republic, not of the regime that had conceived it.

Third fact, the most ironic: the acronym. E42 stood for Esposizione 1942, a date that never came to pass. EUR stands for Esposizione Universale Roma, an event that was never held. An entire neighborhood of Rome, hundreds of thousands of people who work and live there, a metro station, and a joint-stock company carry the name of an event that never existed. I don't know of another similar case in any European capital.

The right photo to take at EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

The canonical photograph is the one of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana shot from below, on the diagonal, to make the nine rows of arches run off in perspective. You take it from Viale della Civiltà del Lavoro, better in the late afternoon when the travertine turns ochre and the shadows enter the arcades, giving depth to the grid. It's the photo everyone takes home, and it's right to take it, but it's not the best one.

The best one is another: the dome of the Palazzo dello Sport reflected in the water of the lake, shot from the opposite shore in the first hour after dawn, when the surface is still and the park's light mist softens the outlines. Nervi and Piacentini doubled by the water are worth the dawn alarm. The second alternative is the staircase of Santi Pietro e Paolo shot from below, with the dome, 32 meters in diameter, closing the frame at the top: vertical, simple, spectacular.

For the cherry blossoms, between the end of March and the beginning of April, the right position is along the Passeggiata del Giappone with the lake on your right: you put a blooming branch in the blurred foreground and the water surface in the background. For the Nuvola, the hour is the blue hour, right after sunset, when the interior lighting makes visible the suspended shell inside the glass and travertine case 40 meters high. A practical warning: many buildings at EUR are institutional and corporate offices, and photographing entrances and security posts up close can get you a reprimand from the security staff. You photograph the architecture, not the guard posts.

Some important events that took place here in history

The first is April 26, 1937, when Mussolini planted a Roman pine on the ground of Tre Fontane, officially opening the E42 construction site. The second is 1942, the year work was halted and the world's fair that was supposed to celebrate 20 years of the regime vanished amid construction delays, the sudden death of governor Piero Colonna, and Italy's entry into the war.

The third is 1944, the worst year. German armed forces coming up from the sea occupied the area and used it as a place to quarter troops. The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana was turned into a repair workshop, the workers' village into barracks, and the buildings were emptied of everything, including the equipment of the official restaurant, carried off to outfit the military mess halls. On June 2, 1944, with the German retreat from Rome, the Allies took over. Then the neighborhood stayed empty and uninhabitable for years.

The fourth event is February 9, 1955: President of the Republic Luigi Einaudi inaugurated the first stretch of the Rome metro, which entered service the next day connecting EUR to the center with the stations then called Magliana, Esposizione Ovest, and Esposizione Est. It was the first metro in Italy, and it was born precisely to serve the fair that never happened.

The fifth is the summer of 1960: from August 25 to September 11, the Games of the XVII Olympiad brought to EUR the basketball and boxing competitions at the Palazzo dello Sport, swimming at the Piscina delle Rose, and track cycling at the Velodromo Olimpico. The sixth is December 12, 1959, with the inauguration of the Obelisco di Marconi after 20 years of interrupted work. The seventh is June 1966, when Cardinal Franjo Šeper dedicated the basilica of Santi Pietro e Paolo, which the following year received the title of minor basilica.

Then come the recent events: October 2004, with the intergovernmental conference of the European Union. January 31, 2014, with the closing of the Museo della Civiltà Romana. October 27, 2016, with the reopening of Luneur after eight years of silence. 2016, with the inauguration of the Nuvola by Massimiliano Fuksas. October 2021, with the G20 summit hosted right in the new congress center. A neighborhood that in 80 years has seen a regime, a war, a reconstruction, an Olympics, and a world summit doesn't need to be told with adjectives.

Who has passed through EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

The first name is Giuseppe Bottai, governor of Rome, who in 1935 proposed the capital's candidacy to Mussolini. The second is the Venetian senator Vittorio Cini, president of the Ente Autonomo Esposizione Universale di Roma from 1936, the man who called in the architects and held the construction site together. The third is Marcello Piacentini, technical coordinator of the whole operation and later designer, together with Pier Luigi Nervi, of the Palazzo dello Sport in 1956.

Practically all the great Italian architects of the middle generation of the twentieth century passed through here: Giuseppe Pagano, Luigi Piccinato, Luigi Vietti, Adalberto Libera, Gaetano Minnucci, Ernesto Lapadula, Mario Romano, Luigi Moretti. Libera left the Palazzo dei Congressi, Minnucci the Palazzo degli Uffici, and the trio of Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Lapadula, and Mario Romano the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana. Raffaele De Vico designed the Parco Centrale del Lago with Piacentini and oversaw its construction after the war with the engineer Giorgio Biuso.

The artists are equally illustrious: Arturo Dazzi for the obelisk, Publio Morbiducci and Alberto Felci for the Dioscuri of the Square Colosseum, Gino Severini, Giulio Rosso, and Giovanni Guerrini for the panels of the Palazzo degli Uffici, Giorgio Quaroni for the frescoes with the founding of Rome, Dino Basaldella for the sculptural groups, Achille Funi for the triumphant Rome of the Palazzo dei Congressi. Italo Gismondi, an archaeologist, conceived the model of imperial Rome executed by the craftsman Pierino Di Carlo.

Among political and institutional figures: President of the Republic Luigi Einaudi, who inaugurated the metro on February 9, 1955. Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, who in July 1959 donated the 2,500 cherry trees to Rome. Cardinal Franjo Šeper, who in June 1966 dedicated the basilica of Santi Pietro e Paolo. The heads of state and government of the G20 gathered at the Nuvola in October 2021.

Finally, the movies. Michelangelo Antonioni shot L'eclisse here in 1961, with Monica Vitti, Alain Delon, and Francisco Rabal: EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma, is the real third protagonist of that film, and its last 10 minutes without actors remain one of the most studied sequences in the history of European cinema. Just mention that finale and the attention changes.

Quick questions about EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

How much does it cost to visit EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma?

The neighborhood is public and walking around costs nothing: the squares, the avenues, the Parco Centrale del Lago, and the exterior view of all the monumental buildings are free and accessible at any hour. You only pay for admission to individual places, such as the Museo delle Civiltà or Luneur, and for tickets to events at the Palazzo dello Sport, the Palazzo dei Congressi, and the Nuvola. Rates and discounts should be checked on the respective official websites.

What does the acronym EUR mean?

EUR is the acronym for Esposizione Universale Roma. The earlier acronym was E42, that is Esposizione 1942, the year the event was supposed to be held to celebrate 20 years of the March on Rome. The fair was never held, but the name stayed with the neighborhood.

How do you get to EUR by metro?

On line B of the Rome metro. The useful stations are EUR Magliana, EUR Palasport, and EUR Fermi, plus Marconi to the north and the Laurentina terminus to the south. The three historic stations have been in service since February 10, 1955, and at the time were called Magliana, Esposizione Ovest, and Esposizione Est.

How long does it take to visit EUR?

Half a day is the reasonable minimum for the outside tour of the main monuments. A complete walk, without going inside anywhere, takes two and a half hours at a relaxed pace. Adding the Museo delle Civiltà or Luneur easily makes it a full day.

Can you visit the inside of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana?

Since July 2013 the building has been leased to the fashion house Fendi, which keeps an exhibition space there open to the public, but it doesn't work as a museum with continuous admission. Openings and exhibitions should be checked on the official channels. From the outside, on the other hand, it can always be seen and photographed.

Is the Museo della Civiltà Romana open?

No. The municipal museum closed to the public on January 31, 2014, after a 2013 inspection by the Ministry of Labor that found irregularities, and renovation works are planned, financed with about 20.7 million euros from the national recovery plan. The status of the works should be checked on the official channels of the City of Rome.

Where is the model of imperial Rome?

In the Museo della Civiltà Romana, at EUR, currently closed. It is made of alabaster plaster at a 1 to 250 scale, covers more than 250 square meters, and represents Rome in the age of Constantine, in the fourth century. It was conceived by Italo Gismondi and executed by Pierino Di Carlo.

How big is the dome of the basilica of Santi Pietro e Paolo?

The hemispherical dome is 32 meters in diameter and is the fourth largest in Rome, after the Pantheon, St. Peter's in the Vatican, and San Giovanni Bosco. The church was opened for worship in July 1955 and has been a minor basilica since 1967.

Can you swim or boat on the EUR lake?

It's not a pool and you don't swim in it. On the banks you stroll, run, and bike along the Passeggiata del Giappone. Activities on the water depend on the active concessions and should be checked on site or on the park operator's channels.

When do the Japanese cherry trees bloom at EUR?

Usually between the end of March and the first days of April, with yearly variations tied to how the winter went. The trees come from the gift of 2,500 flowering cherry trees made to Rome in July 1959 by Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi.

Is EUR good for kids?

Very. Luneur is designed for ages zero to 12, the Parco Centrale del Lago offers space and lawns, and the wide sidewalks make it easy to get around with a stroller. The only serious limit is the summer heat in the open squares, where there's no shade.

Can you get around EUR in a wheelchair?

The central part is flat, with wide sidewalks and regular crossings, and it's among the most practicable monumental areas of Rome. Two obstacles remain: the monumental staircase of Santi Pietro e Paolo, which can be bypassed by the vehicle road, and the change in level between the Palazzo dello Sport and the lake. Elevator availability at the metro stations should be checked the same day.

What's the difference between the Palazzo dei Congressi and the Nuvola?

They are two congress centers a few hundred meters apart, and they belong to two opposite eras. The Palazzo dei Congressi is by Adalberto Libera, built between 1938 and 1954, a cube 45 meters on a side clad in travertine. The Nuvola is by Massimiliano Fuksas, inaugurated in 2016 at Viale Asia 25, with a glass case 40 meters high, a suspended auditorium with 1,748 seats, and a hotel tower 55 meters high.

How many seats does the Palazzo dello Sport at EUR have?

About 12,000 spectators on two tiers. The building is circular, with a maximum diameter just under 100 meters, and the concrete dome designed by Pier Luigi Nervi is nine centimeters thick.

Does the Velodromo Olimpico at EUR still exist?

No, it has been demolished. Anyone looking for the 1960 Olympic venues at EUR will find the Palazzo dello Sport and the Piscina delle Rose, while no trace of the velodrome remains on the ground.

When did Luneur reopen?

On October 27, 2016, after the closure on April 19, 2008, and an investment of about 21 million euros. The Ferris wheel started turning again on December 27, 2016. The park offers about 25 attractions for children and families on an area of 68,000 square meters along Via delle Tre Fontane.

Who owns the buildings of EUR?

Most of the holdings belong to EUR S.p.A., heir to the Ente Autonomo Esposizione Universale di Roma established by law number 2174 of December 26, 1936, and later turned into a joint-stock company. 90 percent of the capital belongs to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and 10 percent to Roma Capitale. The managed real estate is worth about 738 million euros and includes more than 70 hectares of parks and gardens.

What movies were shot at EUR?

The most famous is L'eclisse by Michelangelo Antonioni, shot in 1961 and released in 1962 with Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, where the geometric architecture of the neighborhood becomes the visual theme of the film and fills the final 10 minutes all by itself.

Is it a good idea to visit EUR on Sunday?

The park fills up and the museums have lines. Saturday morning is better, when the neighborhood is free of office traffic and not yet invaded by leisure time. On weekdays, in return, the neighborhood shows its true nature as a business district.

Is EUR dangerous at night?

It's a business and residential neighborhood, quiet, with an evening life concentrated around Viale Europa, the venues by the lake, and events. The recommendations are those of any big city: watch your belongings in the metro stations and in the dark areas of the parks after closing.

Can you take a guided tour of EUR?

Yes, and it's the best way to read the neighborhood, because much of its interest lies in details and historical contexts that you can't see from the outside. For private, corporate, or school groups the reference is the TourLeaderPro contact page.

What can you see at EUR in two hours?

Piazza Guglielmo Marconi with the obelisk, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana from the outside, the Palazzo dei Congressi, and then down to the Parco Centrale del Lago as far as the waterfall under the Palazzo dello Sport. If you have 20 minutes left, you climb to Santi Pietro e Paolo for the view from above.

The final verdict on EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma

If I had to choose a single half day to give to a traveler who has already been to Rome three times, I would have them spend it here. Not because EUR is beautiful in the sense that Piazza Navona or the Pantheon are, but because it's the only place in the city where you can see clearly what Italy wanted to be in the twentieth century, what it failed to be, and what it did with the rubble of that project. The rest of Rome tells 2,000 years. This neighborhood tells 80, and tells them better than any book.

Go slowly, walk, look up, count the arches of the Square Colosseum, sit for half an hour on the shore of the lake and watch the waterfall. Then, if you have time, climb to the basilica on the hill and look at the neighborhood from above, with Via Cristoforo Colombo pointing straight toward the sea as someone had imagined in 1937. That's the moment when EUR stops being an architectural curiosity and becomes a story.

Article written by the editorial team of TourLeaderPro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

Planning a trip to Rome? The English-language guides to visiting the city are on ItalyPlanner.com.