Via Roma (Palermo)
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The Via Roma in Palermo is an important inner-city north-south road connection. It begins in the south at the main train station and its upstream Piazza Giulio Cesare and ends after about two kilometers at Piazza Don Luigi Sturzo near the Teatro Politeama .
Topographic description
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The road runs almost horizontally along the coastline at about 30 meters above sea level. On the right hand side (east) the terrain slopes down slightly towards the shore and the harbor; towards the west it rises hardly noticeably. Via Roma, which is not exactly straight, reaches the old town area of Palermo after about 100 meters. From here the side streets no longer open at right angles.
After the first third the Corso Vittorio Emanuele crosses , after two thirds the Via Camillo Benso Cavour , another broad traffic axis that was created at the same time. The old town ends after Via Camillo Benso Cavour , the intersecting streets are newer and laid out at right angles. The end point of Via Roma is formed by an urban traffic junction, Piazza Don Luigi Sturzo , about 100 meters after the intersection with Via Camillo Benso Cavour .
While the first third is dominated by administrative buildings for authorities, banks and insurance companies, the second third is mainly used for tourist attractions with the Teatro Biondo , the Church of San Domenico and the La Rinascente shopping center . The third third is more interesting for the Palermitan population with retail, gastronomy, cabaret and the crossing pedestrian zone Via Principe di Belmonte .
history
Medieval Palermo was surrounded by a city wall and since the construction of the north-south facing Via Maqueda 1598–1601 it had a crossroad with the east-west axis Corso Vittorio Emanuele . The districts delimited by these two streets were about the same size and consisted of a grown network of larger and smaller streets. The need to build the Via Roma can be demonstrated with a word from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa , who wrote after its completion:
“La via Bara all'Olivella che portava in piazza Massimo, what brulicante di miseria e di catoi e percorrerla was un affare triste. Divenne un po 'meglio quando venne tagliata la via Roma, ma rimase semper un buon tratto da fare tra sporcizia e orrori. "
“Via Bara all'Olivella, which led to Piazza Massimo, was full of misery and humiliation. Walking along the road was a sad business. It improved with the construction of the Via Roma, but there was still a long stretch that led through dirt and horror. "
Planning for construction
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The construction of Via Roma coincides with fundamental urban renovations that were overdue after the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Risorgimento in 1860. City maps from the beginning of the 19th century show a small, winding city that is reminiscent of medinas in the Arab culture. The new political awakening in Italy was also taken literally for urban development . They wanted wide boulevards in the shape of central Italian or above all French cities, above all the Boulevard Haussmann , after which the term Haussmannization was coined.
The construction of this street was part of a larger plan, which provided for the demolition of the medieval corset and the old city wall, but also a revitalization of the city through arterial expansion of important streets. It was planned to give the city a modern look. These plans arose as a result of the completion of the imposing Teatro Massimo on the site of the former San Giuliano monastery. To what extent the feasibility of such a large and visionary plan has motivated the urban planners to renew the city is difficult to assess today.
The plans for the urban redevelopment were officially laid down in the Piano regolatore di risanamento . The chief urban planner was Felice Giarrusso, after whom the renovation plans from 1885 were named, but the renovation of the districts along Via Roma was so extensive that a separate plan was written down, the Piano di risanamento e ampliamento . At the same time as the road was built, the adjacent squares and houses were renewed or completely rebuilt. The aisle into the old building fabric required for the construction and its “extensive urban destruction” was a radical cut into the socio-infrastructural urban fabric and called critics to the scene. These were much more critical than comparable actors in other Italian cities of the time.
Construction stages
Through the central old town
It is noteworthy that the construction work that began in October 1895 was carried out without any permits. The city administration argued that the work on Sant'Antonio and Conceria was urgent, as the work should be completed in 1897. This goal was completely utopian and was not long proclaimed. The opponents reacted with corresponding indignation, understandably above all those directly affected, above all the Marchesi di Monteleone, who saw his splendid Palazzo Monteleone from the 18th century half disappear. The construction plan provided for the palace to be completely demolished, but due to the protests, the only part that was strictly necessary was the Via Roma. Another owner of this palazzo was the Principe di Paternò , who at least managed to get the city to pay for the renovation of the remaining part, including the design of the Piazza San Domenico. In 1903 Antonio Zanca (1861–1958) adapted the facade to the rest of the design of the square.
The first step was to remove abandoned churches and empty workers' houses. This work tore ugly gaps, for example to the Amalfitania and the fruit market. To the north of the church of Sant'Antonio Abbate - exactly opposite the Teatro Biondo - only a narrow strip along the planned Via Roma could be gutted. A splendid façade was erected on top of the street facing the street, behind which city offices were built, only "so that the modern bourgeois population would not have to face the misery of the poor corners from the Via Roma". This curious, curtain-like structure ("laddove la curva della via Maccheronai lambisce quasi la via Roma" ⊙ ) is still preserved today.
- Construction of the Via Roma
Palazzo Monteleone on Piazza San Domenico, the left part of which was removed for road construction.
Demolished Palazzo Monteleone in Piazza San Domenico. On the left the church of San Domenico
Loggiati della Vucciria fruit market . Via Roma behind spectators watching the demolition work.
Completed Via Roma in Piazza Due Palme , looking towards the main train station
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Although the space was very tight, the Biondo brothers, thanks to their good contacts with the city administration, succeeded in planning a plot of land they had acquired for their Teatro Biondo as a theater and residential area. Actually, a larger space would have been necessary for this public building, but the project was able to be realized by subsequent purchase of land and minor changes to the building regulations. For the construction of the road it was necessary to raise the terrain in this area. The church of Sant'Antonio almost fell victim to this measure, had it not been for such prominent protests from the clergy and the city tour and if the entire church had not been raised on a platform surrounded by a balustrade. This church, which is one of the oldest in the city and has a tower from Norman times , was preserved. A municipal commission of inquiry later found in 1906/07 that the award had been illegal because it had been acted “negligently and with human error”. Apart from a verbal warning, however, no sanctions were taken against the guilty party.
It is telling that the city made a requirement for the theater to build a grand café on the ground floor in order to make this area appear "more decent". A mean risalit that protrudes only slightly due to the available space and indicated groups of columns determines the appearance. Smaller shops are on the ground floor and should help to liven up the street. The exterior of the building is classic and archetypal for this period, but the interior is remarkable.
From San Domenico to Villa Ingham
The second construction phase, which began in 1906, also had its pitfalls. At the northern end, Via Roma was supposed to take up Via Ingham, which was built at the end of the 19th century, until more precise measurements showed that this Via Ingham was not exactly in the extension of Via Roma. In the course of the Via Roma one had miscalculated by a few arc minutes , so that now a slight swing had to be made in the height of the New Apostolic Church Chiesa Anglicana della Holy Cross ; the straightness of the boulevard could no longer be realized! The chief planner Giarrusso resigned from his post and the mayor Giuseppe Tasca Lanza (1849-1917) set up the first commission of inquiry in 1908. This mistake took the impetus from the proponents that the construction had previously triggered.
In order to eliminate the bad planning with the least possible loss of image, a corner of the Jesuit monastery Sant'Ignazio all'Olivella was removed and part of the park in front of it, which had previously belonged to the garden of the building. A few years earlier, the property had become state property; its interior served from then on as the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum . The axis shift left a vacant lot that was not closed for many years. Attempts to install a park there repeatedly failed. More than ten years later, the main post office was built there based on designs by Angelo Mazzone. Only his successor, Edoardo Caracciolo (1906–1962) was able to complete the building in 1933.
From Corso Vittorio Emanuele to San Cristoforo and further
This third construction phase took place between 1908 and 1920, only interrupted during the First World War . At the level of Via San Cristoforo , an elongated facade was built as a partition, this time without any building behind it, in order to hide the view of the old town from the visitors of Via Roma .
A stage was also to be built in the third section, this time initiated by the Finocchiaro family . In keeping with the times, the new venue was supposed to be a cinema rather than a theater. The design was inspired by the European Art Deco style. The facility quickly became the city's most important cinema, but after the death of its owners, the quality could not be maintained. In the 1960s it became home to porn films. Only after a new change of ownership and renovation work in the 1990s was the institution suitable for families again.
In a fourth construction phase, the monumental double-corner building facing the central train station and the Piazza Giulio Césare were finally built . The exaggerated baroque echoes are all about fascism. They were completed in 1932, ten years after construction began.
Newly built structures
In addition to the structures already mentioned, other buildings worth seeing have also been built. The first to be mentioned is the Casa Ammirata on the corner of Via Roma / Piazza Colonna, designed by Francesco Paolo Rivas (1854–1918) and built between 1908 and 1911. The house, with an almost square floor plan, has a symmetrical facade in relation to the corners, each highlighted by a beautiful little tower that connects the two parts. In the style of the time, the main entrance has an elegant floral design. The most interesting building in the second phase is likely to be the free-standing Generali insurance building , designed by Ernesto Basile and built between 1912 and 1914. It stands for a completely new, modernist architectural style at that time, reminiscent of the Esposizione Universale di Roma and thus differs from the houses with their neoclassical ornamentation that were usually built at that time.
Although the Via Roma could not be built as desired, it is one of the most representative streets in the city and is in keeping with the times, be it the late Belle Époque, neorealism or fascism. The wish to be part of the orchestra of the European metropolises and to hide the little-loved neighborhoods has apparently succeeded. Renato Zappulla, recognized city planner and architect in Palermo, emphasizes that:
"Pur non essendo una realizzazione felice, via Roma, può considerarsi un elemento architettonico ormai storicizzato, da ritenersi oggetto di salvaguardia e di recupero, senza dubbio testimonianza del periodo particolare che ha caratterizzato in modo notevole la città."
“Even if the Via Roma does not represent a successful urban development solution, it can now be viewed as part of the cityscape that has evolved over time. It should be preserved and prepared. It is without a doubt an expression of the special time that shaped the city significantly. "
literature
- Ruggero Ragonese: The Cutting of Via Roma , in Des Palmes . Enzo Sellerio, Palermo 2006, ISBN 88-7681-153-2 , pp. 99-128.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sharon Marcus: Haussmannization as Anti-modernity, the Apartment House in Parisian Urban Discourse, 1850-1880 , in Journal of Urban History, vol. 27 no. 6, University of California, Berkeley, September 2001. pp. 723-745
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Ruggero Ragonese: The Cutting of Via Roma , in Des Palmes . Enzo Sellerio, Palermo 2006, ISBN 88-7681-153-2 , pp. 99-128.
- ↑ Mario Giorgianni: Il taglio di via Roma , Palermo 2000, ISBN 978-8876811326 , page 34
Web links
Coordinates: 38 ° 7 '8.8 " N , 13 ° 21' 43.8" E