Some forty buildings in the residential quarter of Trieste-Salario in Rome stand out for their bizarre and elegant architecture. Concentrated around Piazza Mincio, they create a sort of oasis of style. This is the Coppedé quarter, from the name of the architect who designed the buildings in the early 20th century, commissioned by the Società Anonima Edilizia Moderna.
Gino Coppedè died in 1927, ten years after the development of this area, which radicalised the style of that period and infused it with stylistic references and imaginative creations, from Art Nouveau to the neoclassical style.
Coming from Via Tagliamento, you come across a unique entrance to the quarter. It is a large arch connecting two buildings and from which an enormous wrought iron lighting fixture hangs. The fulcrum of the quarter is Piazza Mincio with its magnificent Fontana delle Rane (Fountain of the Frogs). Overlooking the square are the Villini delle Fate (Fairy Cottages), the Palazzina del Ragno (little palace of the spiders), the palaces of the ambassadors on Via Dora and the Palazzo Senza Nome (the palace without a name).
On the side of Via Brenta the Lion of St. Mark and the drawing of a tall ship will remind you of Venice. Elsewhere you will be reminded of Florence. The three Villini delle Fate, surrounded by a garden according to the garden-city model, feature elements that relate to Dante and Petrarch. Adorning the floor is a round mosaic with three young-lady musicians (lyre, voice and ukulele) wearing an ancient Roman gown. They are metaphors of the three cottages known as the Villini delle Fate: Neme, Melete and Aede. On the walls of the cottages you can see the phrases DOMUS PACIS: house of peace; DOMINO LAETITIA PRAEBEO: I offer joy to the owner; ERECTA ANNO DOMINI MCMXXIV: constructed in the year 1924; PETRA FIRMITAS and EX ARTE VENUSTAS: from stone to solidity, from art to beauty.
Terracotta, travertine, marble, glass, iron, wood and bricks are combined to produce the uniqueness of the refined buildings, which conceal peculiar decorations with spiders, roosters and even a she wolf. They can be seen on towers, dwarf galleries and in the decorations of walls, as well as in the small gardens and in reliefs.
The Coppedè quarter has caught the eye of film makers over the years. Dario Argento used the Palazzo Senza Nome as a setting in his “L’uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo” (The Bird with Crystal Plumage). In this film you can see its odd entrance and the curious phrase INGREDERE HAS AEDES QUISQUIS ES AMICUS ERIS HOSPITEM SOSPITO: Come in whoever you are. You shall be a friend. I protect my guests.