Termini Railway Station

Inaugurated in 1867 by Pope Pius IX, the new railway station of the capital of the Papal State was built according to the project of the architect Salvatore Bianchi at the gates of the city, near the Baths of Diocletian. The original building, despite subsequent arrangements, remained more or less unchanged over time until 1938 when the station began to be renovated according to a project by the architect Angiolo Mazzoni, who, in harmony with the cultural climate of the time, wanted to give a monumental and grandiose appearance. In 1942, however, the Second World War interrupted the work and only in 1947 was a new competition announced, won with equal merit by two groups ( E. Montuori and L. Celini / M. Castellazzi, V. Fadigati, A. Pintonello, A. Vitellozzi ), who in collaboration with the General Directorate of Railways finally completed the work.
The current architectural recovery project tends to restore dignity to the spaces designed in successive phases by architects Mazzoni and Montuori: the new intervention philosophy requalifies the station both as a place of travel and as a meeting and transit centre. Stairs, escalators, treadmills make travel easier for travellers. The new Forum Termini service center was created 4 meters below street level. The large bookcase, built with transparent glass, welcomes travelers into the atrium and descends, with a spiral staircase, towards the Forum.
The lighting project follows the more general architectural project, tends to free the volumes from any added presence and to recreate, using the most current technologies of sources and devices, the type of lighting conceived, at different times, by the architects Mazzoni and Montuori. ( FLARE nr. 23, 2000, pg. 4-12 )