Folk Art and Fascist Architecture Treasures in EUR

Main stairway up to display rooms in the Museo Nazionale delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari.

In EUR, the southern "suburb" of Rome built originally by Mussolini, but now a thriving business center, are several unusual state museums.  One we had not been in for years is a museum of folk art (basically), or the Museo Nazionale delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari.

We were enticed to see it this summer by a talk on 1940s frescoes that we had not seen before.  These are in the process of being restored, and that process is well on its way (see photos below). 

The building, classic Fascist excess, is a treat in itself.  The displays are few; many of the rooms have little in them.  But what they have is fascinating.  Photos that follow are examples of the displays - the Macchina of Santa Rosa, a creche from Sicily, folk art puppets, as well as more views of the building, inside and out.  Likely you will be wandering the halls and display rooms alone.

One wall of frescoes.  The blank spaces aren't a degradation or failure to restore.  This is how the painting looked when work on it was stopped because of Allied bombing near Rome in 1942.

The listed hours (but don't count on them): 8:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, Euro 4.  On Facebook (in Italian).  Web site (not in English but use a Web translator): http://museonazionaletradizionipopolari.tumblr.com/museo

Dianne

Scaffolding and restoration continuing on the opposite wall in this hall.

Another painter - these were painted by several different
artists.

 

Close up in one of the paintings, showing folk festivals

Traditional dress.  This from my family's
home area in northern Italy, the Sondrio province.



A piece - only - of a the "Macchina di Santa Rosa," the
30 meter (100 foot) high tower carried through
the streets of Viterbo (a town in Lazio, about 40 miles
north of Rome) each September 3.  A new one is built every 5 years.
This one apparently is from 2003-2008.  You can tell how large
it is compared to my height.

From this poster, you can see that the piece of the Macchina is only just that - a piece.

A close-up of an elaborate creche from Sicily.

Puppets

Chiaroscuro ceilings.

External vie of the Museum - part of the enormous Fascist complex
that was supposed to be host the 1942 Exposition (E '42)

More architecture than objects.