EUR, Rome

EUR
District of Rome
Piazza Guglielmo Marconi
Coordinates: 41°50′01″N 12°28′15″E / 41.83361°N 12.47083°E / 41.83361; 12.47083Coordinates: 41°50′01″N 12°28′15″E / 41.83361°N 12.47083°E / 41.83361; 12.47083
Country	Italy
Region	Lazio
City	Rome
Area
• Total	0.4 km2 (0.2 sq mi)

EUR is a residential and business district in Rome, Italy, located south of the city centre. The area was originally chosen in 1930s as the site for the 1942 world's fair which Benito Mussolini planned to open to celebrate twenty years of Fascism, the letters EUR standing for Esposizione Universale Roma. The project was originally called E42 after the year in which the exhibition was planned to be held. EUR was also designed to direct the expansion of the city towards the south-west and the sea, and to be a new city centre for Rome. The planned exhibition never took place due to World War II.

Most of the area is the property of EUR S.p.A., a company jointly owned by the Ministry of Economy and the Rome municipality.

The complex was planned to be home to a World Fair to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the March on Rome and of the beginning of the Fascist era. The autonomous agency responsible for organization and construction of the project, E42 (Esposizione 1942), was created on 26 December 1936.

The general commissioner of the agency, Vittorio Cini, presented a list of the most prominent Italian architects available to Mussolini. The list included Adalberto Libera, Enrico Del Debbio, Giuseppe Terragni, Giovanni Michelucci, Eugenio Montuori and Giovanni Muzio. Among the large list, Marcello Piacentini (head of the project), Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig, Luigi Piccinato, Luigi Vietti and Ettore Rossi were chosen. The first project, on an area of 4 km² (1.5 sq mi), was presented in 1938.

The name was later changed to EUR, and the final project was presented in 1939. However the Expo never took place due to the Second World War, and the original project was left uncompleted when the works had to stop in 1942.