Roma Termini

Roma Termini is the main railway station of Rome, Italy, which derives its name (along with the surrounding district) from the ancient Baths of Diocletian (Latin: thermae) which are located across the street from the main entrance. It offers regular train services to all major Italian cities, as well as daily service to Munich, Geneva, and Vienna. With 33 platforms and over 180 million passengers annually, it is the 2nd-largest railway station in Europe after the Gare du Nord in Paris.

Although it was dedicated to Pope John Paul II in December 2006, Pope Pius IX opened the first, Termini Station in 1863 as the terminus of the Civitavecchia, Frascati, and Ceprano lines. The dilapidated Villa Montalto-Peretti, first erected during the 16th century by Pope Sixtus V, was chosen as the site for this station. Completed in 1874, after the “Capture of Rome” and the following installation of the United Italian government, it was laid out according to a plan by architect Salvatore Bianchi.

The current building was designed by two teams selected through a competition in 1947 and later inaugurated in 1950. It is characterized by a monumental lobby hall, fronted by tall glass walls and covered by a concrete roof that consists of a flattened, segmented arch which is really a modernist version of a barrel vault from an ancient Roman bath. Architecturally, the station fittingly expresses a sense of arrival in Rome, the Eternal City, acknowledging the city’s past while simultaneously looking forward to the future.

• Visited: 2016