Rome (IT), Sapienza, University of Rome, rectorate [deleted] - 1935
The
inscription (1935) could be read in the entrance hall of the rectorate at the campus
(‘Città Universitaria’) of ‘Sapienza’ University (then called ‘Università di
Roma’). The author of the text was Aurelio Giuseppe Amatucci (Nastasi 2022:
214–16). The inscription was deleted in 1944 (Billi 2021: 276), but traces of
the nail holes can be still seen.
The
inscription was in Roman square capitals, made of bronze letters affixed to the
marble plaque over the door to the Aula Magna, facing the entrance of the
rectorate.
The text
briefly summarized the construction history of the Città Universitaria, begun
in 1932 and completed in 1935, emphasizing the role of Mussolini and mentioning
both the architect Marcello Piacentini (1881–1960) and
the rector Pietro De Francisci (1883–1971). The
remarkable use of the dating formula post Christum natum reflects
Amatucci’s chief academic expertise, which was in Christian literature (see
also the explicit of the Codex Fori
Mussolini). Furthermore, the
university is indicated first by the term universitas, then by the
plural studia, while Vincenzo Ussani in
his inscriptions for the Città Universitaria consistently used the singular studium
(see inscriptions no. 1 and 2 of Sapienza’s Città
Universitaria).
The
inscription was part of a bronze decoration including a medallion of the head
of the goddess Minerva, representing knowledge (‘sapienza’ in Italian), by the
sculptor Mirko Basaldella (1910–1969); this sculpture was set above the
inscription and is still extant.
Billi,
Eliana. 2021. ‘“Lavori urgenti” e restauri nella Città universitaria di Roma.
Caronia, Toesca e il murale di Sironi’. In Storie nascoste. Studi per Paolo
Simoncelli, edited by Stefano Dall’Aglio, Alessandro Guerra, and Michaela
Valente, 273–87. Milan: Franco Angeli.
Mitrano,
Ida. 2008. La Sapienza 1932-1935: arte architettura e storia. I documenti
del Consorzio per l’assetto edilizio della Regia Università di Roma. Rome:
Università La Sapienzia, 111.
Nastasi,
Antonino. 2019. Le iscrizioni in latino di Roma Capitale (1870-2018).
Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 722–23.
———. 2022. ‘Iscrizioni in latino postunitarie di Roma: un aggiornamento’. Rationes Rerum 19: 201–28.
Antonino Nastasi