LITTLE LONDON

 

 

Rome continues to offer surprises, even to those who have lived there for many years or are used to visiting it all the time. In fact, few know that the Eternal City also boasts a Little London among its characteristic neighborhoods. This is how one of the most hidden and little celebrated places in the capital is defined. Very often hearing this name does not ring any bell even to the Romans themselves. After all, however, it is part of the great undeniable charm of the city, constantly to be discovered.

  

If by chance you were to find yourself between Viale del Vignola and Via Flaminia, you will realize the presence of a characteristic pedestrian path, precisely paved with cobblestones. Looking up you will then notice many villas, of similar size, clearly part of a very specific urban project. Their facades are all colorful and have some space in front of the entrance door, bordered by iron gates. The doors are strictly in wood and the stairs in stone.

 Everything shouts British style and the extreme aesthetic care goes back, as if you were suddenly in a neighborhood in the heart of London. To be precise, this surreal corner of England is located in the Flaminio district, in via Bernardo Celentano. This intriguing private road has a very specific history, which has its roots in the beginning of the last century.

 

 

In fact, in 1909 the Anglo-Italian mayor Ernesto Nathan was elected, who fully understood the immense potential of Rome and dreamed of bringing it to the level of the great European capitals, in terms of organization and decorum. He therefore approved a master plan that prevented the buildings from exceeding 24 meters in height, with villas that could not exceed the second floor. This road is nothing more than an example of that ambitious project, created by the architect Quadrio Pirani. However, the project never went beyond this little corner of paradise, which isolates the residents from the traffic and chaos of the capital.

 

Michela M. 5sc