L’ex Ristorante Ufficiale di Ettore Rossi all’EUR. Questioni aperte di patrimonializzazione e restauro

Designed by Ettore Rossi between 1938 and 1939, the ‘Ristorante Ufficiale’ was one of the few buildings planned for the E42 to be completed before works stopped in 1943. Set on the monumental axis leading to the ‘Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana’, it featured a marble portico and a vestibule with water basin and a mosaic by Angelo Canevari. After the war, the building was repaired and reopened for the 1953 Agricultural Exhibition, but in 1961 it was radically transformed when the Cassa del Mezzogiorno converted it into offices: interiors were reconfigured, an extra floor added, and the portico and vestibule concealed by a curtain wall. Declared of cultural interest in 2004, the building raises crucial questions about heritagization: should the 1960s modifications – though diverging from Rossi’s design – be preserved as part of EUR’s post-war heritage, or should the original scheme be reinstated? With renovation works imminent, it is up to the owner, the new tenant and the Super-intendence to address this and other questions.