Since June, I have had occasion to visit a part of Rome I barely know, way on the other side of town, literally. Coming back on the bus one time I happened to glance up at the buildings and was absolutely amazed. Decorative friezes, fancy brickwork, ornate balustrades and balconies, these were something else again. I snatched a couple of pics with the phone and showed them to The Squeeze.
“Oh yes, that’s the Coppedè. It’s wonderful.”
Yesterday we went together and got off the bus specifically to look around.
The centre of it all is the fountain of the Piazza Mincio where I stopped to photograph the cardinal points.
The architectural details of all the buildings are fascinating and surely worth books and books and books.
I was surprised to discover that although Wikipedia has an article about the architect, Gino Coppedè, there’s nothing in English about his quartiere. In Italian, natch, there’s a surfeit of detail, just like his buildings.
Nor are Coppedè’s buildings the only ones of note in the area. On the edge of the quartiere off the Piazza Buenos Aires is a church, Santa Maria Addolorata, that slightly predates the quartiere but seems to fit right in with its neo-byzantine architecture and internal mosaics.
An excellent expedition. I should probably share some photos with English Wikipedia.
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