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First envisioned in 1937 as a purpose-built destination for the 1942 World Fair — formally the Esposizione Universale del 1942 and abbreviated as E'42 — this area was intended to highlight the progress of Mussolini's Italian Empire. Because of WWII, the Fair never took place and the project effectively was abandoned until after the war.

In 1955, the then out-of-date E'42 was rebranded as the more timeless EUR — Esposizione Universale di Roma — which is pronounced in Italian as a single word closer to "Air" rather than a hard "Yur" or as an acronym. This rebranding also accompanied a revised vision for the area as a dense suburb with retail, office, leisure, and residential functions. The plan was tweaked further to support the 1960 Olympic Games, as well. These days, although it continues to provide a variety of uses, it largely is considered to be a business district.

Despite the rebranding and subsequent changes, a common criticism of EUR is that the architecture is too uniform and that the scale is much too large. These are valid criticisms — and the district could be better in many respects — but it is distinctive, orderly, and clean. Better portions of it can be a pleasant walk, too.

The Square Colosseum & The Church

The most famous landmark in EUR, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana — colloquially known as the Colosseo Quadrato (Square Colosseum) — does receive some attention from tourists seeking a photo op, but even it doesn't reach the top 100 attractions on the big tourist advisory sites. Other distinctive structures like the Basilica dei Santi Pietro e Paolo church receive even less attention. The vast majority of visitors to Rome never make it to EUR, and travelgasm.com humbly suggests that tourists should pay more attention to the district than they do. EUR is physically distant from the tour bus routes and architectually modern, a long way away from the often preconceived notion of Rome as only a collection of ruins from an ancient empire.

The Square Colosseum was unoccupied for decades, but Italian fashion house Fendi restored the structure and made it its headquarters in 2015. The security perimeter is massive and intimidating, but the security guard generally should wave you through if you ask for permission to take photos or visit the ground floor museum that is open to the public. The upper floors are reserved for Fendi employees.

The Basilica dei Santi Pietro e Paolo was designed in 1938, opened to the public in 1955, and intended to show the close bond between the Mussolini government and the Catholic church. Of course, Mussolini is long gone, but the church remains. It is an active church rather than a tourist attraction, so if you choose to visit, please do so respectfully.

The Best EUR Walk

We've mapped out our preferred walk through EUR below. It starts with the most tolerable route to begin a loop around the lovely artificial lake, Lago dell'EUR. Then, it sticks to smaller tree-lined streets to take a peek at the Basilica dei Santi Pietro e Paolo and the Square Colosseum as well as the primary commercial street, Viale Europa. There are some modest museums on the other side of the large and unpleasant Via Cristoforo Colombo street to the east, but our suggested walk is what we have found to be the most idyllic and efficient exploration of the area.

EUR not only can be a pleasant walk, it's also a great place for inexpensive lunch specials priced for office workers rather than tourists. There are a couple dozen restaurants in the area, but at one time or another, we enjoyed Orange Caffe for a smoothie, Eat & Go for homestyle Italian, and the beautiful Frog Lounge for sandwiches and salads. If the weather is nice — as it commonly is in Rome — you alternatively could buy a picnic at the convenient Supermercato Elite grocery store and enjoy a takeaway lunch in the park.

How to Get Here: Take the Rome Metro Line B (Blue) south toward EUR. If you are interested only in the Square Colosseum, the closest metro station is EUR Magliana. Take the east-facing exit (toward the left if you exit the train coming from the center of Rome), walk through the car park, and go through the sketchy tunnel that goes under Viale di Val Fiorita (pay particular attention to your surroundings in and around this tunnel). To follow our suggested walk, go to EUR Palasport. To go toward Lago dell'EUR, take the south-facing exit (toward the right if you exit the train coming from the center of Rome). You can loop back to EUR Palasport for the most pleasant walk or go to EUR Magliana for the most direct return option.

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