Italy – 20th Century Rocks

by Gianni Galassi

Website:  http://www.giannigalassi.com/

Article and photographs copyright © 2009 Gianni Galassi, All Rights Reserved

There is a lot we can learn from modern architecture. As citizens: 20th Century buildings represent the deep relationships among society, institutions, culture and technology. As eyesighted human beings: they force us to perceive their plastic value before their function (museum, parliament house, theater, airport). As photographers: the patterns produced by the dialogue between their shape and the dance of light and shadow are always tempting when we see them through our viewfinders.

Ara Pacis Museum, Rome

Everybody believes he is familiar with Rome. As schoolboys, novel readers or film-goers we all have a general idea of its history and looks. Subsequently we all visit Rome with an a priority list of what we must see, which often coincides with the list of what we already know. This is why the monuments and the remains of the Roman Empire are always crammed with people. But there is more to enjoy.

EUR Arcade, Rome

During last century’s first twenty years, Rome, as many important cities all over the world, experienced a deep renewal process. In the southern area of the river banks a power supply plant was built, along with port facilities, an iron bridge (called Industry Bridge, not by chance), gasometers, a modern slaughterhouse and many factories. Most of these structures are still there. The old power plant (Centrale Montemartini) has become a museum, where roman and greek sculptures are displayed among the old engines and generators. The sloughterhouse (Mattatoio) has been converted for contemporary art exhibitions and the former docks are now apartment blocks.

EUR Porch, Rome

Later came the Rationalist Movement, with Architect Marcello Piacentini and his pupils. They worked during Mussolini’s dictatorship, so their buildings have been dismissed as fascist for a long time. A rash judgment, in fact. Besides a number of Government buildings –some of outstanding beauty- we can still admire post offices (Via Marmorata and Ostia), railway stations (Stazione Termini South Wing) and bridges witnessing an era of modernization (notwithstanding the regime), mostly based on the rapid growth of the transport and communication system. All of them share the same stylistic features and inspiration of the Futuristic art.

MAXXI Museum, Rome

The EUR, a huge development plan for the 1942 Expo, would have been the highlight of the Piacentini School, but WW2 stopped it. Yet it has been finished during the Fifties, and IMHO travelers should be obliged to visit (and take pictures of) this marvelous three square miles contemporary version of the Roman Forum, with its Square Coliseum (Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana), the Congress Center (Palazzo dei Congressi), the State Archives (Archivio di Stato) and a wealth of museums and public office buildings.

Millennium Church, Rome

As far as the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties are concerned, it’s a decadence season. But in the Nineties a sort of shy Renaissance begun. Two works by the American Richard Meier, the Ara Pacis Museum (Teca dell’Ara Pacis) and the Millennium Church (Chiesa di Tor Tre Teste), have marked the roman cityscape along with Renzo Piano’s Auditorium (Parco della Musica) and Zaha Hadid’s 21st Century Art Museum (MAXXI) which is going to open (behind schedule) in early 2010.

Railway Water Tower, Rome

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Born in Milan in 1954, Gianni Galassi makes his debut as a still-life photographer at 16. His second love, the movies, lead him to Rome in 1979. He is hired as spots and documentaries director, and later as features’ screenwriter and assistant director. He is now involved in film and TV post-production, as company owner, dubbing director and dialogue writer. Besides he lectures at the Bologna University the Fondazione Cini in Venice, at the Lazio Terra Summer School. He never stopped taking pictures. His works have been exhibited in Rome at the Luxardo Gallery in 2009, and at the International Photography Festival and at the Palazzo Venezia National Museum in 2007. Previously in Milan, Viterbo and Athens.