The inscription (1940) is still visible in the lower part of the central section of the mosaic decoration of the fountain, in front of the Palazzo degli Uffici (Via Ciro il Grande), in the EUR district. However, it is in a bad state of preservation because of the limestone layer that covers it (to appreciate its original appearance, see Greco 1992: 159 and Benzi 1992: 97).

The inscription was realised in mosaic technique: the first line, in Latin, is in Roman square capitals with red tesserae on a white background; the second and third lines, in Italian, are in sans-serif capitals with black tesserae on a white background. The first line is a quotation from Vergil’s Aeneid (1.279), in particular from Jupiter’s famous speech to Venus, in which he predicts the rise of the Roman people and their “never-ending empire”. The second line reveals the identity of the male figure represented over the inscription, with his left hand pointing to fasces put on the ground: Romulus. The third line indicates the source of the inscription falsely, since the lines are taken not from the sixth but from the first book of Vergil’s Aeneid. Perhaps it was meant as a reference to the passage in the sixth book where Romulus appears (6.777–80); moreover, verses 851–53 of the sixth book, popular under Fascism, also affirm Rome’s imperial destiny: maybe the author of the inscription confused them with the quote from the first book.

The quotation is meant to justify the imperial ambitions of the Fascist regime through the myth of romanità and a distorted reading of Vergil’s poem. 

The inscription occupies a prominent position in the monumental context of the Palazzo degli Uffici, because it is in the centre and on the front of the fountain designed by the architect Gaetano Minnucci (1896–1980), who was also responsible for the building: this means that it frames all the mosaics, finished in 1940. The central ones are by the painter Gino Severini (1883–1966), who might be the author of the text, and represent the mythological origins of Latium’s history with scenes inspired by the Aeneid (see Benzi, 1992). The mosaics on the right, on the other hand, designed by Giovanni Guerrini (1887–1972), represent Rome’s domain over the seas. The mosaics on the left, designed by Giulio Rosso (1897–1976), represent public works of the Fascist regime (for a detailed description, see Greco 1987). 

Bibliography

Benzi, Fabio. 1992. Gino Severini: affreschi, mosaici, decorazioni monumentali, 1921-1941. Rome: Leonardo / De Luca.

Diebner, Sylvia. 2018. ‘Il mito di Roma nei mosaici della Fontana del Palazzo degli Uffici della E 42 (1940)’. In Atti del XXIII colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico, edited by Claudia Angelelli, 759–69. Rome: Edizioni Quasar.

Greco, Antonella. 1987. ‘Gino Severini, Giulio Rosso, Giovanni Guerrini. Esterno: fontana, 18 riquadri a mosaico’. In E 42: utopia e scenario del regime. II: Urbanistica, architettura, arte e decorazione, edited by Maurizio Calvesi, Enrico Guidoni, and Simonetta Lux, 310–14. Venice: Marsilio.

———. 1992. ‘Severini e Quaroni, mosaici e affreschi’. In Il Palazzo dell’Ente Eur, edited by Antonella Greco, Giorgio Muratore, Simonetta Lux, and Elisabetta Cristallini, 151–70. Rome: Editalia.

Nastasi, Antonino. 2019. Le iscrizioni in latino di Roma Capitale (1870-2018). Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 633–35.

Antonino Nastasi