Overview

The “Agricultural Exposition of Rome 1953” was held in Rome, Italy, from July 26 to October 31, 1953. Organized by the company O.G.E. (Organisation Gestion Exposition), it was a special exhibition under the 1928 Convention, with agriculture as its theme. It covered 12 hectares and received 1.7 million visits.

The site

The exhibition took place in the district built for the Esposizione Universale di Roma (E.42), the universal exposition planned for 1942 that was never held because of the outbreak of World War II. According to a 2014 study in “Storia dell'urbanistica,” the 1953 exhibition was an essential step in recovering buildings already constructed there during the Fascist era and in shaping the area as a model neighborhood park.

The same study shows how closely the new Italian Republic was involved. Leading members of the new republican parliament sat on the exhibition committee, and ministries and government agencies took part in its preparation. Marcello Piacentini, formerly the leading architect of the Fascist regime and author of the plan for E.42, returned to sign the plan for the future park; he later designed the Palazzo dello Sport for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. The painter Gino Severini redecorated the main lobby of the Palazzo dei Congressi in new abstract forms, and young Roman architects such as Cesare Ligini designed temporary pavilions.

Legacy

Expo 1953 Rome was one of two special exhibitions held that year, together with Expo 1953 Jerusalem. It brought the buildings of the unrealized E.42 back into use and set out the plan for a park in the district now known as EUR.