44 monochrome photographs of the rationalist city of Sabaudia.
Sabaudia is one of several planned cities built on the reclaimed malaria-infested marshland of the Agro Pontino, south of Rome. Following a project by Leonardo Da Vinci, the marsh was drained upon Mussolini’s will, in order to provide housing communities for the population from the poorer areas of northern Italy.
Four young talented architects -Gino Cancellotti, Eugenio Montuori, Luigi Piccinato and Alfredo Scalpelli- won a nation-wide contest for Sabaudia’s development blueprint, and were responsible for the town plan and most of its buildings.
Work commenced on August 5, 1933 and was completed in 253 days.
Eighty years later Sabaudia still shows the beauty of its rationalist architectural concept combined with the metaphysics of Giorgio De Chirico’s urban paintings.