Italia__-_November_2016

FAST CULTURE

J

ust off Via Ostiense, in Rome, about halfway

between the Pyramid of Cestius and the Basilica of

St Paul Outside the Walls, you can visit the first

public electrical generating power plant in Rome.

You might think it’s an odd choice for a tourist to

make, but even if you’re a stranger to the Eternal

City, you’ll probably meet some people you know there. For

instance, a few months ago I saw old Emperor Caracalla,

beside a huge diesel-powered engine. He was scowling, as

usual. Augustus was there, too, looking a little the worse

for wear, along with his brother-in-law, Marcus Agrippa.

I think I saw Antinous, too, Hadrian’s young favourite.

But it wasn’t only Roman Emperors and their friends

there among the giant centrifuges, turbines, compressors

and generators. The gods were there as well – Zeus

himself, and Aphrodite, lightly clad, posing in front

of a gigantic cast-iron tank. Athena looked rather more

sedate, and Apollo made an appearance, too, as he always

seems to do. Quite a gathering; and why not, since they

are all ancient marble masterpieces (though a bit worn

and chipped, sometimes), from the historic collections

of the Capitoline Museums.

What, you may ask, are 400 or so classical sculptures,

as well as mosaic panels, stone funerary monuments,

sarcophagi, and a whole 4th-century AD mosaic floor

depicting a hunt for exotic animals, doing in a power

plant? Well, first of all, the plant no longer generates

electricity, though in its day (1912 until 1963) it powered

half the street lights in Rome. So, from 1963, it sat unused.

In 1990, the Rome Electricity and Water Board (ACEA)

renovated it as an industrial archaeology exhibit; and

then, beginning in 1997, it was used to house some of the

sculptural works from the Capitoline Museums while the

main museums, the great twin palaces on Michelangelo’s

Piazza Campidoglio, were being renovated.

Exhibiting the artworks in the power plant was

expected to be a temporary measure, but the startling

juxtaposition of ancient and (relatively) modern was

well received by visitors. And since there is no shortage

of ancient sculpture in the Capitoline collections, the

old power plant, now called Centrale Montemartini, (after

58 ITALIA! November 2016

The Emperor Caracalla in the Sala Macchine (Engine Room)

Aphrodite stands incongruously before a cast-iron tank The 4th-century mosaic fl oor

IT144.FastCulture.sg4.indd 58 28/09/2016 14:10pm