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Iniziative speciali

  • RICERCA COLLABORATORI

dal 13 agosto, 2012
al 15 agosto, 2012
SI RICERCANO 30 COLLABORATORI PER L'EVENTO DI FERRAGOSTO AD OSTIA

PER INFO CONTATTARE GLI UFFICI DELLA PROLOCO ...

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Today


TODAY


Many people tried to carry out the reclamation work: the first one was John Baptiste Sacchetti who, between 1623 and 1644, assigned it to a colony of Tuscan people (who died of malaria during the works).

At the beginning of the IX century, Pius VII and then Napoleon Bonaparte were interested in the reclamation, but neither the former, because of economical problems, nor the latter, because of the defeat in Leipzig in 1813, fulfi lled the project.
In 1856, Pius IX attempted to reclaim it, but the project was dropped because of the slowness of the works and the loss of Church territories in favour of the new Italian State.

Owing to the union of Italy (1861) and the subsequent conquest of Rome in 1870, the new government engaged in the drainage of the wetlands of Ostia, which was entrusted to 'Associazione Generale Operai Braccianti del Comune di Ravenna' in 1884 and ended in 1891.
Thanks to its work, Ostia could have a rich soil and a wide residential zoning: for this reason, in 1911 the Town Council decided to approve the town planning for New Ostia. It provided for the building of a “garden-city” and a sea-front.
The 1st World War slowed down the project, but during the postwar period, the Regina Pacis Church (1919) and the orphanage for tuberculos is affected children (later to become Victor Emmanuel III’s Colony) were built, designed by engineer Paolo Orlando.
In addition to this, the works for the railway connection between St. Paul and Ostia’s railway station began (King Victor Emmanuel III started them in 1918, and they were fi nished in 1924).
When Fascism took over, in 1922, the town council and Mussolini refused the urban design of Ostia as a “garden-city” and chose an architectural style that showed the splendour of Imperial Rome in this city too, not only in Rome.

Ever since, Ostia’s building trade witnessed the best Italian architects’ works.
In 1924, the biggest bathing establishment in the world, the Roma, was inaugurated; in 1926 the seaplane-base in Fiumara Grande was finished, and it witnessed many air challenges of the Italian Air Force, one the best in the world at that time. The most famous Italian record was that of Francis De Pinedo who flew over Atlantic Ocean twice and landed in 1927 at the seaplane base of Fiumara.
Another famous feat was that of Italo Balbo, who in 1933 left from Italy in command of 26 seaplanes to reach Chicago and New York, where Americans and Italian emigrants welcomed him.
Since 1930, the sea-plane base has had a civil use for the air link between Rome and Sardinia, while in 1934, flights to European cities and Tripoli in Libya (formerly an Italian colony) were added.
In 1928 the Rome-Sea highway, (today Via del Mare, which connects St.Paul’s cathedral to Ostia) was inaugurated.
It was the first free highway of the world. In 1933, Castel Fusano Park was opened to the public.
In 1942, the current ‘Cristoforo Colombo’ road was designed in view of the Universal Expo. It used to be a connection between Rome and the sea but it wasn’t finished until the 1950s because of the war.

During the 2nd World War and the Nazi occupation, Ostia experienced the most difficult period of its modern history; to remove benchmarks for the allied aviations, the Germans destroyed the establishment “Roma”, the landingstage of the Littorio and the tower of the “IV November” barracks: they left the town in a disastrous state.
In 1949, the town was renamed: “Lido di Ostia”.
When the post-war phase was over, Ostia lived an economic boom because it became a popular destination for Roman families, actors and politicians.
In 1965, the President of the Republic gave to Rome’s City Hall more than two kilometres of the Castel Porziano estate, where the so-called Cancelli free beaches are today.

In the 70s and 80s Ostia faced a period of a deep depression and a demographic increase which raised its population to over 200,000 inhabitants. New buildings and works would help the city to have an economic revival (but not only), such as Ascom Palace (Ostiensis Business Man Association) and the place where international martial arts champions are set (the Palafi jlkan indoor stadium).

Today, Ostia seems to be a city in ferment - as it was before World War II - due to the activities of urban and architectural requalification such as the transformation of the “ex Meccanica Romana-Breda” into a Cinema multiplex and the initiative of Rome’s Municipal Council as regards the setting up of the Tourist Port of Rome (“Paolo Orlando Project”).

At last, Ostia has found its own identity which is linked to its history, shown by its heritage. Today it is a city which honours its past.

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