The Language of Identity Between Uniformity and Variation. The Facades on Porticoes at Piazza Vittorio in Rome

The Commission in charge in 1870 of the “extension and embellishment” plan to adapt Rome to the status of Capital, identified the portico facade as the stylistic feature of the new identity language of national unity and Esquilino as a huge district with fulcrum in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. With the aim to recognise the morphological and stylistic variations in the context of the dictates of uniformity imposed by this typology, a study was conducted on the facades on porticoes that surround the square for approximately one kilometer. The study method took the survey of shape and size as a basic information nucleus integrated with the typologic-morphological analyses, while the graphic-geometric models were an operational modality and metalanguage for investigating the languages of project and construction. The study highlighted how the introduction of variations, albeit minimal, broke the rigid monotony, giving the architectural-urban landscape an overall harmony.