I mercati coperti del Governatorato a Roma

In the 1920s, local markets in Rome were still mainly held outdoors. The need to provide the city with indoor trading facilities prompted the Governorate to build four covered markets between 1925 and 1932, which were important for their innovative functional design and the construction techniques used: Campo Marzio in piazza Monte d'Oro, Nomentano in piazza Alessandria, Prati in piazza dell’Unità and Monti in via Baccina. A common feature is their location in central areas or areas of early expansion of the city, in close relation to the late 19th/early 20th-century buildings of the surrounding fabric, both in terms of urban layout and architectural language, and the use of reinforced concrete structures to cover the large spans, which allowed for easy use of the interior spaces. Manuals of the time already stated that good natural ventilation should be ensured in covered markets, but in order to accommodate warehouses and cold storage rooms and to place the markets in small lots, underground floors were added, which also allowed for the differentiation of goods for sale. Over the years, these markets have undergone various changes in their functioning and have gradually lost importance, but their central location calls for new forms of use, as has already been done for the Nomentano market which, included in the Mercati d'Autore circuit, hosts not only the normal sales areas, which have undergone a restyling, but also spaces for socialising.