GREAT BUILDING REVIVAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 October 1939, Page 5

GREAT BUILDING REVIVAL

ITALY’S EXPERIMENT Italy, so rich in architecture of the traditional periods and the first natural stopping place of students in search of knowledge, is experiencing a great building revival, which makes the country as interesting now from the modern point of*view as well as the historical. Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of the present time is the reclamation of the Pontine Marshes, famous in Italian history for more than a thousand years. They covered an area of 180 square miles, for the most part under water. Many schemes were mooted through the years for the draining of the Agro Pontino, and some were actually commenced.

The first comprehensive agricultural drainage scheme of the Pontine was drawn up in 1919 by the Civil Engineering Department in Rome and work was commenced in 192 G. A vast network of excellent roads, large collecting canals, water pumping stations, as well as the regulation of the coastal lakes and the levelling of various depressions, represent the fruit of these activities. In 1932 the first farmers settled on the area in Govern-ment-built homesteads. Now there are over 2.000 families there and 14 new villages. The architecture of these regions is naturally extremely interesting. Everything is new. Houses and public buildings are of the most modern. The latter are built as a rule on a large scale, with a thought for the future. Practically every town has its Fascist headquarters and its cathedral. The motor bus station at Littoria is a. building full of interest and from the high tower of the Municipal building a comprehensive view of the countryside is obtained. The Post and Telegraph Office is a two-storey structure notable for projecting curved bays of glass, separated only by narrow piers and extending the full height of the building. The town of Littoria. was built in the space of a few months on what used to be the most insalubrious part of the marshes. It is grouped around two squares, the Piazza del Littoria, with the town hall. Hotel Littoria. and the financial offices building; and the Piazza. XXIII, Marzo, with the Governent Palace and the Bank of Italy, the Carabineers barracks, and the insurance building. The City of Pontinia is a triumph of modern architectural ideas in which all superfluous ornamentation is eliminated and the decorative effect achieved by the use of different materials. The Palazzo del Commune is a square turreted edifice with a spacious entrance surmounted by a wide balcony. In the water reservoir relief is obtained by the contrast in colours created by the alternative use of brick and travertine.