These inscriptions can be read on the Roman headquarter of the Institute for Public Housing (Istituto per le Case Popolari, short ICP, today Azienda Territoriale per l’Edilizia Residenziale Pubblica) (Lungotevere Tor di Nona 1). The building was designed by the architect Alberto Calza Bini (1881–1957), who also served as the president of the institute (1924–1942), and was completed in 1929. Its inscriptions were authored by Raffaello Santarelli.

The inscriptions are carved in Roman square capitals on the façade, on the band under the upper frame (1), on the frames of the windows of the first floor (2), and on the string-course (3); on the left side of the building (Piazza di Ponte Umberto I), on the band under the upper frame (4) and on the frames of the windows of the first floor (5); on the frame of the fourth window of the first floor of the rear side of the building (6); along Via degli Acquasparta, over the employees’ entrances, on the frames of doors at house number 12 (7) and 15 (8); and finally also in the entrance-lobby, both on the left (9) and on the right wall (10).

The inscriptions can be divided into two thematic groups. The first one includes texts about Rome and its greatness; these inscriptions deal with the rhetoric and propagandistic theme of romanità.

Inscription 1 is inspired by the nearness of Tiber that flows in front of the building. Inscription 2 amplifies the salute to the city Have Roma that is present in the inscription 6 and was frequently used at the time (see the inscription on the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore di Stato “Armando Diaz”). The words mater and domina mundi recall the beginning of the Hymn to Rome of Rutilius Namatianus (De reditu suo, 1.47-49: Regina tui pulcherrima mundi, […] Roma, […] genetrix hominum genetrixque deorum); they also modify the proverbial expression Roma caput mundi (see inscription 5 in the aula “Giulio Cesare” of the Palazzo Senatorio on the Capitoline Hill).

The second thematic group sheds light on the aim of the institute: to build public houses for the poor. Inscription 3 contains the name of the institute and the year of construction of the building; the Fascist dating was erased after World War II and replaced by the words e‹t› a‹b› Ur(be) c(ondita) MMDCLXXXIII (“and 2683 [years] after the foundation of Rome”, starting form 753 BC). Inscription 4 conveys the wish that the virtues listed in inscription 5 will strengthen the house. The virtues listed are traditional and conservative values of Italian family life, which Fascism promoted. The connection is made explicit by the sculpted fasces above the words labor and pietas. Inscriptions 7 and 8 address the ICP’s employees, one stressing the public importance of their work and the other exhorting them to conduct their tasks in the best possible way. Finally, inscriptions 9 and 10 have a more general political meaning, as they establish a connection between citizens’ houses and their ideas and beliefs, which had to be consistent with Fascism.

Bibliography

Ferraironi, Francesco. 1937. Iscrizioni ornamentali su edifici e monumenti di Roma con appendice sulle iscrizioni scomparse. Rome: Industria Tipografica Romana, nos 746–53.

Nastasi, Antonino. 2019. Le iscrizioni in latino di Roma Capitale (1870-2018). Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 105–09.

Antonino Nastasi