Roma Termini railway station

"Rome railway station" redirects here. For other uses, see Rome railway station (disambiguation).
For the Rome Metro station underneath Termini, see Termini (Rome Metro). For the Italian town, see Termini Imerese.
Roma Termini
Location Piazzale dei Cinquecento
00185 Rome
Italy
Coordinates 41°54′03″N 12°30′07″E / 41.90083°N 12.50194°E / 41.90083; 12.50194Coordinates: 41°54′03″N 12°30′07″E / 41.90083°N 12.50194°E / 41.90083; 12.50194
Operated by Grandi Stazioni
Line(s)
Platforms 32
History
Opened 1862 (1862)
Location
Roma Termini
Location within Rome

Roma Termini (in Italian, Stazione Termini) is the main railway station of Rome, Italy. It is named after the district of the same name, which in turn took its name from ancient Baths of Diocletian (in Latin, thermae), which lie across the street from the main entrance.[1]

Overview

The station has regular train services to all major Italian cities, as well as daily international services to Paris, Munich, Geneva, Basel, and Vienna. With twenty-nine platforms and over 150 million passengers each year,[2] Roma Termini is one of the largest railway stations in Europe.

Termini is also the main hub for public transport inside Rome. Both current Rome Metro lines (A and B) intersect at Termini metro station, and a major bus station is located at Piazza dei Cinquecento, the square in front of the station. However, the main tram lines of the city cross at Porta Maggiore, some 1,500 metres east of the station.

On 23 December 2006, the station was dedicated to Pope John Paul II.[2]

History

Façade of the first permanent Termini station, circa 1890. The obelisk on the right, a memorial to Italian casualties in battle of Dogali, is now in a nearby street, via delle Terme di Diocleziano.

On 25 February 1863, Pope Pius IX opened the first, temporary Termini Station as the terminus of the Rome–Frascati, Rome–Civitavecchia and Rome-Ceprano lines.

The first two lines previously had separate stations elsewhere in the city, and, as the third line was under development, the city chose to build one central station, as opposed to the Paris model of having separate terminus stations for each line or each direction. The dilapidated Villa Montalto-Peretti, erected in the 16th Century by Pope Sixtus V, was chosen as the site for this new station, which was to be called the "Stazione Centrale delle Ferrovie Romane" (Central Station of Roman Railways).

Construction of the permanent station began in 1868, in the last years of the Papal Temporal Power over the city of Rome, and was completed in 1874 after the Capture of Rome and installing of government of United Italy. It was laid out according to a plan by the architect Salvatore Bianchi. The front of this station reached Via Cavour, which means it stuck some 200 metres deeper into the city than the current station.

In 1937, it was decided to replace the old station, as part of the planning for the 1942 World's Fair, which was never held because of the outbreak of World War II. The old station was demolished, and part of the new station was constructed, but works were halted in 1943 as the Italian fascist government collapsed. The side structures of the design by Angiolo Mazzoni del Grande are still part of the current-day station.

The terminal building today

The current building was designed by the two teams selected through a competition process in 1947: Leo Calini and Eugenio Montuori; Massimo Castellazzi, Vasco Fadigati, Achille Pintonello and Annibale Vitellozzi. It was inaugurated in 1950. The building is characterized by the linear lobby hall, a tall space of monumental dimensions. This great hall is fronted by full height glass walls, and is covered with a concrete roof that consists of a flattened and segmented arch, a modernist version of a Roman bath's barrel vault. The vault is structurally integrated with a cantilevered canopy that extends over the entrance drive. The end result is a gravity-defying modernist structure that also recalls a similar achievement of Roman architecture. The back of the hall leads to a transition space of ticketing functions before reaching the train shed, and is topped by an even longer building block that houses a 10-story hotel, clad with a façade of travertine.

Architecturally, the building punctuates the sense of arrival to Rome, and communicates a sense of the Eternal City as both modern and traditional, looking forward to the future as well as remembering its history. Its bold presence in the urban fabric expresses the diversity of the City's history, and speaks of the dramatic new scale of the modern industrial economy of Italy.

The anodized aluminium frieze panels set in sequence along the length of the glass wall are the work of artist Amerigo Tot: the composition is about capturing the dynamics in sound and speed of a train.

Servian Walls

A length of the early Roman Servian Wall is preserved outside the station.

Train services

The station is served by the following services (incomplete):

Preceding station   Trenitalia   Following station
Frecciarossa
toward Salerno
Frecciarossa
toward Salerno
FrecciargentoTerminus
FrecciargentoTerminus
Frecciargento
Terminus
toward Udine
FrecciargentoTerminus
FrecciargentoTerminus
toward Brescia
FrecciargentoTerminus
TerminusFrecciargento
toward Lecce
TerminusFrecciargento
FrecciabiancaTerminus
FrecciabiancaTerminus
toward Ravenna
FrecciabiancaTerminus
TerminusFrecciabianca
TerminusInterCity
TerminusInterCity
toward Siracusa
TerminusInterCity
TerminusInterCity
toward Taranto
TerminusInterCity
Frosinone
toward Ventimiglia
InterCityTerminus
InterCity
toward Salerno
InterCity
InterCityTerminus
toward Ancona
InterCityTerminus
toward Perugia
InterCityTerminus
Orvieto
toward Wien Hbf
EuroNightTerminus
Orvieto
toward München Hbf
EuroNightTerminus
Chiusi-Chianciano Terme
Intercity NotteTerminus
Intercity NotteTerminus
TerminusIntercity Notte
toward Lecce
TerminusIntercity Notte
TerminusIntercity Notte
toward Siracusa
TerminusTreno regionale
Terminus
TerminusTreno regionale
Torricola
TerminusTreno regionale
Torricola
toward Nettuno
TerminusTreno regionale
Venafro
toward Campbasso Centro
TerminusTreno regionale
toward Frosinone
TerminusTreno regionale
Capannelle
toward Albano Laziale
TerminusTreno regionale
Capannelle
toward Velletri
Treno regionaleTerminus
Preceding station   Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori   Following station
Italo
toward Salerno
Italo
toward Salerno
Preceding station   Lazio regional railways   Following station
TerminusFR4
Capannelle
toward Frascati/Albano/Velletri
TerminusFR5
TerminusFR6
Capannelle
toward Cassino
TerminusFR7
Torricola
toward Minturno-Scauri
TerminusFR8
Torricola
toward Nettuno

In popular culture

See also

References

  1. ↑ Guida d'Italia. Roma. Milan: Touring Club Italiano. 1999. p. 162.: "il toponimo deriva dalle terme di Diocleziano" ("the toponym derives from the Baths of Diocletian").
  2. 1 2 Roma Termini

External links

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