Le vicende di Piazza Sempione dalla visione di Giovannoni al nuovo progetto di pedonalizzazione

This contribution addresses the analysis of the architectural and urban events that characterizes Piazza Sempione, situated in the Aniene City Garden Consortium in the neighborhood of Monte Sacro in Rome. The reading of the characters and the projection of this urban passage moves from the visions of Gustavo Giovannoni who, in 1920, designed the Church of the Santi Angeli Custodi as a scenographic backdrop for the "main square", today Piazza Sempione, proposing a perceptive reading in line with Via Nomentana Nuova starting from Ponte Tizio Tazio (1922), an architecture for which he proposed three solutions. In this perspective, Piazza Sempione is thus defined, on the left, by Sabbatini's projects of 1923 and, on the right, by the completion of the corner lot by the architect Energici who won the 1925 competition organized by the Popular Housing Institute, in which Mario De Renzi also participated. In the contemporary world, however, the vision, use and flows of mobility in the square do not do justice to the harmony of its architecture and still denies today the urban vision of Giovannoni who conceived the space as a Civic Square for the district with the presence of the Town Hall and the Church. Today, the debate between the municipality and the citizens regarding the new project’s rearrangement and pedestrianization of part of the square is open, presenting an interpretation of its centrality once again dissonant with the surrounding architectures. The study intends to evaluate the current proposal, comparing it with the historical characteristics of the square and analyzing the elements of the Roman historical tradition, which can be found in both in the layout and in the language of the present architectures.