Quartiere Coppedè site features

The Coppedè is four streets of architecture that behaves as if the twentieth century had not happened. It is a complex of 26 palazzine and 17 villini rising between the Salaria and the Nomentana, a short walk from the historic centre, and the city describes it as in reality not a true quarter, but a corner of Rome of unexpected and bizarre features.

The threshold is an arch with a light hanging from it. A richly decorated "arcone" joining the two buildings of the ambassadors, from which descends a great wrought-iron chandelier, defines the entrance to the quarter — black ironwork against stone, swinging a little, visible from the end of the street.

Inside, the vocabularies collide. A fantastic mixture of Liberty and Art Deco art with infiltrations of Greek, Gothic, baroque and even medieval art: pointed arches over Deco grilles, Renaissance putti on Liberty balconies, rusticated bases carrying loggias that belong to another century. The incredible "pastiche" of architectural languages immerse the visitor in the sumptuous and also slightly fictitious atmosphere of the early twentieth century.

It all pivots on one square. The ensemble is articulated around piazza Mincio, and there the central space is occupied by the Fontana delle Rane, an imposing fountain populated by twelve frogs — low, broad, with the frogs set round its rim.

Two buildings carry the place. The piazza is surrounded by buildings differing in form and size; the two decorated in a superabundant and fantastic manner are the Palazzina del Ragno, of Assyro-Babylonian inspiration, distinguished by a great spider on its facade, and the Villino delle Fate, characterised by a total asymmetry, with medieval arches and friezes, made by the fusion of different materials such as marble, brick, travertine, terracotta and glass. The spider sits high, flat and deliberate, where a coat of arms would normally go.

And it is somebody's street. Entryphones, parked cars, shuttered windows: the whole fantasy is a working residential block, which is why there is no ticket and nothing to go into.

The arcone and its chandelier

A richly decorated "arcone" joining the two buildings of the ambassadors, from which descends a great wrought-iron chandelier, defines the entrance to the quarter.

Piazza Mincio

The square the whole ensemble is articulated around.

The Fontana delle Rane

An imposing fountain populated by twelve frogs, occupying the central space of the piazza.

The Palazzina del Ragno

Of Assyro-Babylonian inspiration, distinguished by a great spider on its facade.

The Villino delle Fate

Characterised by a total asymmetry, with medieval arches and friezes, made by the fusion of different materials such as marble, brick, travertine, terracotta and glass.

The 26 palazzine and 17 villini

The whole extent of it, between the Salaria and the Nomentana — and the reason the city calls it not a true quarter.

The pastiche itself

A fantastic mixture of Liberty and Art Deco art with infiltrations of Greek, Gothic, baroque and even medieval art.

The film locations

"Inferno" and "L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo" by Dario Argento, plus "Il profumo della signora in nero" by Francesco Barilli, "Ultimo tango a Zagarolo" by Nando Cicero and "Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti" by Nanni Loy with Vittorio Gassman.