Current name: Town hall
Original name: Town hall
City: Castrocaro Terme and Terra del Sole (FC)
District: –
Address: 81 Viale Guglielmo Marconi
Year of construction: 1934 – 1938
Designer: Engineer Annibale Pantoli and surveyor Osiride Bortolotti for the company Comm. Ettore Benini in Forli, heating system project by engineer Aldo Camerani
Costumer: City of Castrocaro Terme and Terra del Sole
Architectural style: Littorio eclecticism with hints of monumental Classicism and Rationalism
Interiors can be visited
Important features: building listed as cultural asset by the Superintendence for Architectural Heritage; wrought iron and marble decorations
Description:
The relationship between the community and power during the Fascist regime significantly involved public architecture. Its task was to represent the State in the territory as both a guarantor and an intimidator. The ‘modernization’ idealized by fascism indeed included an essential connection with the containers of indoctrination, culture, and administrative relations. Schools, welfare offices, and municipalities were not strangers to this architectural renewal.
In Castrocaro and Terra del Sole, the construction of the new Town Hall began in 1934. The choice of the location for its erection sparked lively local rivalries that seemed to have no solution. Terra del Sole, which had held the seat for centuries, strongly opposed the requests from Castrocaro, which sought to obtain the new ‘recognition’ from the regime. The resolution of the bitter dispute is attributed to Mussolini himself, who, in agreement with the mayor Eden Venturi, indicated an area equidistant between the two centers, which were just over a kilometer apart
The building designed by engineer Pantoli and surveyor Bortolli stands on a high ground upstream from the section of state road connecting the centre of Castrocaro Terme with that of Terra del Sole.The building has a rectangular floor plan measuring 33 x 16.35 metres and has the main façade facing the street. The building is arranged on two floors plus a basement. In the central part stands the 21-metre-high Littoria Tower at the top of which is a clock. Accessed by a flight of steps, the ground floor is occupied by a central atrium prolonged by a wide hall which features a monumental double staircase leading to the upper floor. Originally, the ground floor housed, among others, the wedding hall, the local military Office, Justice of Peace and medical officer’s bureau. The first floor housed other offices including the Cabinet of the Podesta, the Accounting Department and the technical office. The central part of the second floor is occupied by a large meeting room measuring 12 x 8 metres with access to the balcony above the decorative portico on the façade.
The main entrance door is divided into four sections[AM1] / decorative panels, made of oak wood with chestnut wood frames, while between the atrium and the hall is a large glass door made of fine Douglas fir wood with semi-double glazing. The wrought iron decorations, marbles as well as wooden details of the central staircase were also chosen and designed by engineer Pantoli and surveyor Bortolotti, while the original heating system was entrusted to the engineer Aldo Camerani’s company from Forlì.
The construction of the new headquarters was an opportunity to replace the pre-existing furnishings, which the Podesta and the administration deemed too worn and with a variety of styles that did not suit the needs of the new premises.A special budget chapter was opened for these expenses and the supply was entrusted to the company Al mare dei mobili in Forlì. The company provided large desks with drawers, armchairs with leather upholstered seats and backrests, stools and reception armchairs upholstered in 20th-century style fabric, shelves and bookcases with frosted glass or wooden doors, as well as a ‘standing desk’ with a register holder currently kept at the Historical Archives.
The work was completed with testing in 1938. Original project drawings and administrative documents relating to the awarding of contracts, inspections and tenders, together with some photographs of the time, are preserved and can be consulted in the Municipal Historical Archive.
non ho capito se con “4 partite” si intende al fatto che la porta si divide struturalmente in 4 oppure fa riferimento ai 4 pannelli verticali che decorano ciascuna anta della porta (sono andata a vedere una immagine del municipio ma a parte la decorazione non ho trovato descrizione della struttura della porta) [AM1]