Description
Piazza Giuseppe Verdi is the center of modern La Spezia: more a wide avenue than a square, among Liberty, Art Deco and eclectic buildings, with the Post Office Palace at the far end and, in front of it, the colored arches of the artist Daniel Buren.
The showpiece is the Palazzo delle Poste, designed by Angiolo Mazzoni and inaugurated in November 1933. It has squared forms in exposed brick and travertine, raised by a broad staircase, and a mighty clock tower.
Inside the tower is the Futurist mosaic, about 200 square meters of tesserae covering the walls. Fillia and Prampolini made it in 1933 on the theme of communications: by land, by sea, by telegraph, by telephone and by air.
The interior rooms have rich colored marbles, from Portoro of Palmaria to Rosso di Verona. Mazzoni also designed the furnishings and the lamps, in Murano glass. Alongside, the Fillia staircase climbs toward Via XX Settembre and at its foot is the Futurist fountain, in marble, brick and blue ceramic, restored in 2022.
Another thing to look at is the Grattacielo of 1927, by Ermenegildo Panconi. It has statues on the ridge of the roof and decorations in the least expected places: crabs, chains, lions and big faces that jut out from the cornice, like the monsters of Gothic cathedrals.
A little beyond, above the Palazzo degli Studi, stands the Liberty Villa Marmori, built in 1923 by Franco Oliva. It has polychrome stained glass and has housed the Conservatory since 1984. From the middle of the square you can also see Casa Bertagna, from 1933, which with its vertical lines looks like a tower.
The Palazzo degli Studi, inaugurated in 1923 in the presence of Victor Emmanuel III, houses two schools. Palazzo Giachino, from 1912, with its mullioned windows and pointed arches, looks to the Romanesque-Gothic architecture of central Italy.
Until about 1928 the square was closed off by a theater, the Politeama Duca di Genova, and by the old houses of the Torretto district. They were demolished in the great plan that changed the face of the city.
For decades a row of maritime pines ran down the middle. In 2015 they were removed for the project by Daniel Buren, who redesigned the square with his colored arches, inaugurated on December 30, 2016.
The showpiece is the Palazzo delle Poste, designed by Angiolo Mazzoni and inaugurated in November 1933. It has squared forms in exposed brick and travertine, raised by a broad staircase, and a mighty clock tower.
Inside the tower is the Futurist mosaic, about 200 square meters of tesserae covering the walls. Fillia and Prampolini made it in 1933 on the theme of communications: by land, by sea, by telegraph, by telephone and by air.
The interior rooms have rich colored marbles, from Portoro of Palmaria to Rosso di Verona. Mazzoni also designed the furnishings and the lamps, in Murano glass. Alongside, the Fillia staircase climbs toward Via XX Settembre and at its foot is the Futurist fountain, in marble, brick and blue ceramic, restored in 2022.
Another thing to look at is the Grattacielo of 1927, by Ermenegildo Panconi. It has statues on the ridge of the roof and decorations in the least expected places: crabs, chains, lions and big faces that jut out from the cornice, like the monsters of Gothic cathedrals.
A little beyond, above the Palazzo degli Studi, stands the Liberty Villa Marmori, built in 1923 by Franco Oliva. It has polychrome stained glass and has housed the Conservatory since 1984. From the middle of the square you can also see Casa Bertagna, from 1933, which with its vertical lines looks like a tower.
The Palazzo degli Studi, inaugurated in 1923 in the presence of Victor Emmanuel III, houses two schools. Palazzo Giachino, from 1912, with its mullioned windows and pointed arches, looks to the Romanesque-Gothic architecture of central Italy.
Until about 1928 the square was closed off by a theater, the Politeama Duca di Genova, and by the old houses of the Torretto district. They were demolished in the great plan that changed the face of the city.
For decades a row of maritime pines ran down the middle. In 2015 they were removed for the project by Daniel Buren, who redesigned the square with his colored arches, inaugurated on December 30, 2016.